"You Very Bad Face"

Koreans, bless them, they're not backwards about coming forwards. If you get to class looking as though you've just been dragged backwards through a rosebush, you can be pretty certain someone will point out that you're looking like crap. "Oh! Brian! You very bad face!" is an old favourite of mine. If I'm feeling particularly tired and make the mistake of being a bit stung, I might say. "Oh, you too", but, generally, I'll just smile and say, 'Thanks!" and leave it at that. It's not that they're being rude, it's just that they're way less fake than we are in Ireland. If you look like shit, they'll tell you. To be honest, I'm starting to be more like that myself and it's refreshing. I generally take it with a pinch of salt, just like I do when they insist I look like some good-looking actor I bear NO resemblance to. It's very flattering, but I don't think James McAvoy would be too happy to be confused with yours truly.

The reason I bring that up today is that my sleeping pattern is truly shot to bits and I write this today having already taught two of my three Wednesday classes on a mere two hours sleep from last night. Somehow, I don't feel too bad at all, but I'm pretty sure it'll hit me in the afternoon just as I'm trying to prepare my classes for tomorrow. Thankfully, I don't teach DDE2 tonight, so I have some extra time to get my thinking cap on and come up with something creative for the start of my TOEIC lessons tomorrow night. I'm also going to head over to Ji's to watch FC Seoul away against Pohang Steelers, which is hopefully showing on TV.

Pohang won the Asian Champion's League last season so, although they are currently only in mid-table in the league, it's not going to be an easy game at all. Following the crushing disappointment of the 4-2 loss away against Suwon last weekend, this is a game we really need to take something from if we are to keep in contact with the top of the league and avoid getting sucked into the battle for the play-offs directly below us. Suwon are on a bit of a push and Ulsan and Busan are still there or thereabouts.

RANKING

TEAM

POINTS

W

D

L

F

A

GD

1	JEJU	37	11	4	3	35	18	17
2	SEONGNAM	36	11	3	4	34	16	18
3	GYEONGNAM	36	10	6	2	28	17	11
4	JEONBUK	34	10	4	4	37	24	13
5	SEOUL	33	11	0	6	31	17	14
6	ULSAN	29	8	5	5	24	23	1
7	BUSAN	26	7	5	6	29	23	6
8	SUWON	26	8	2	8	30	31	-1
9	POHANG	22	5	7	7	28	34	-6
10	INCHEON	19	6	1	10	27	33	-6
11	CHUNNAM	18	4	6	8	30	36	-6
12	GANGWON	16	4	4	10	21	36	-15
13	GWANGJU	15	3	6	8	12	25	-13
14	DAEJEON	13	3	4	11	16	34	-18
15	DAEGU	12	3	3	12	19	34	-15

The K-League is unique in that the league winners, aren't necessarily the league Champions. At the end of the season, the top six go into play-offs to decide who takes top honours. So, although of course I want to see FC Seoul at the summit, the reality is that top-6 might have to do. Considering our amazing unbeaten run at home, surely we can do at least that? Surely... I hope the manager starts with Choi Tae Uk, Lee Seung Ryul, Dejan and Djeparov on the wings and up front tonight, as that's the selection that started the second half at Suwon and looked pretty good. Cross your fingers for us...

Classes all still going well thankfully, in spite of the sleep deprivation. It's nice being back amongst the hustle and bustle of a busy teacher's office and have all the students around the language centre and during breakfast and dinner downstairs. Long may it continue. I'm particularly enjoying teaching on campus; it's always nice to have a new teaching experience and another feather in your cap. My class this morning had five students that I previously taught during DDE1 and they seem like a great group. I have the last of my five General English classes in an hour; that's going to be a lot of mid-term and end-of-term marking...

Ok, I have a few things to sort out before class so I better get on with it. Need to sort out band practice, which is getting increasingly more difficult to do with all our clashing responsibilities. Need to try to learn some Korean if I'm to avoid total gibberish during my class on Friday. Need to play guitar a bit for fear of letting it slip again. Need to hassle my Uni to confirm whether or not they got that heap of cash I wired them and find out when my course actually starts again. Need to keep busy and avoid nodding off during/before class. Have a good day everyone. Zzzzz...

Slow, slow, slow, slow, FAST!

Tuesday night and my first blog this week, which should go some way towards explaining just how insanely busy I have been since work started up again yesterday. My head is fried with so much going on all of a sudden having been so idle for most of the summer. So far, I think I'm keeping on top of it all fairly well and I'm enjoying the classes. Right, how about a quick catch up on the weekend?

As my last blog alluded to, I was being very 'sensible' last Friday in order to get myself organized for a busy Monday and be free to enjoy the weekend guilt-free. Once I was done blogging I did, indeed, get sucked back into my book and very nearly didn't bother going out to meet Thomas and his co-workers celebrating the end of their summer camp in Suyu. I talked to Rob on the phone on his way to the airport and then did the family mart > Rock n' Roll Day thing that is becoming more and more of a nice little Friday night habit.

I didn't have much time to laze around on Saturday before I set out from Wolgye at 5.15pm to get to Suwon (at 7.45pm...) a quarter of an hour into the Suwon Bluewings V FC Seoul encounter at a packed Suwon World Cup Stadium, by which time we were already losing 2-0. I was pretty much heading down on my own but one of the nice things (although sometimes annoying) about Korea is that random people have a habit of befriending you and that's what happened as I was getting out of my train. My FC Seoul shirt attracted a fellow supporter and she shared a taxi with me to the stadium. I'm not going to talk too much about the game but I was still standing, staring in shock a fair few minutes after the players had left the pitch. I certainly understand why Seoul and Suwon fans simply don't get along. When I was heading to meet Matt for a quick beer after the game, two Suwon fans stopped me to kindly warn me that if I didn't take off my Seoul short, "You die". Lovely. Having come from 2-0 down to get back to 2-2, it still rankles that we lost 4-2. I'd say it was a great game for the neutral: highlights here.

After the game I got the train back up to Seoul to go see Kev at Stompers in Itaewon. We were treated to some good music over the course of the night. It was both strange and enjoyable to watch Kev (old guitarist) and Jeff (new guitarist) playing so well together in the Rolling Stones cover band. The lead singer was also one of the best to watch that I've seen in a long time. Like true rockers, they headed over to Woodstock after to play another show but I stole off to Dillingers in honor of Rob where I met up with Stephen and Darragh and did a fair bit of ranting to the poor barmaid who made the mistake of asking me about the FC Seoul match. When they found out I was a fan, the bar owners gave me some merchandise they had laying around and promised me the signed ball they have behind the bar if I could make it back for the quiz on Thursday. There's no way I'll make it with my teaching schedule, but I'll be holding him to it at a later date...

Sunday was a lazy day spent hanging about with Ji and Thomas before forcing myself to stay awake for the rain-spattered Belgian Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton to keep his world title bid well on track. I stayed over at Ji's that night even though I never ever seem to sleep that well over there. And so it was the case again...

Monday consisted of a taxi home at 6.30am, teaching Brand English from 7.30-8.45am, heading over to the main campus to pick up class lists for General English, writing out seating plans, teaching three General English classes from 10am-1pm, going back to prepare myself for the Dynamic English 2 classes, squeezing in a short nap, finally getting some food, teaching DDE2 from 6.40-9.20pm, preparing my classes for Tuesday and FINALLY getting to sleep around 1am. Somehow I woke up at 4.30am and couldn't get back to sleep so today has been as all over the place as yesterday. Throw in doctor's appointments and Korean class and it's looking like a pretty busy week. Importantly, all my classes have been going really well and I'm looking forward to a couple of really productive teaching blocks coming up. Secretly, I have to admit, it's nice to be busy again...

A couple of other things before I go. I have seen a few people posting this South Park episode on facebook (ironically) but I finally watched it in full tonight when I came in from class. If you're on facebook (is anyone not??), I think you'll identify... Watch it here.

As part of my recent push to get my pictures up on facebook, I asked my ex-girlfriend Annie for a link to some pictures of a safari we went on with a sound couple from Jersey (UK) back in early 2008 in Venezuela. I'm not going to get around to putting them on facebook anytime soon, but if you want to check them out now, you can do so here.

Finally, I mentioned meeting my friend Matt after the Suwon game last Sunday. If you're interested in reading a PROPER blog that never ever fails to be funny and insightful without taking itself too seriously, you should check out his recently revamped blog here.

There you go, that's all my business for the day. I'll do my best to blog again soon but we'll see how limiting my classes and sleeping pattern will be over the next few days. Great to be busy again though...

Is this it?

Well, here I am at 9.20pm on a Friday night having spent the day in Korean lessons and preparing classes and I really have to ask myself: what happened to me? It's really not that long ago that Friday came and I had that giddy sensation all day and ALWAYS did something fun, if not always too crazy, later that night. It's strange how suddenly 'being 28' creeps up on you and it's not something you get much warning of, aside from the other 27 years of your life that is... I think I echo the views of a lot of my peers when I say that the biggest turmoil of this age is the half of you that thinks it's time to 'grow up' battling with the (especially audible on weekends) half that wants to squeeze another few years of craic out of it. My mind tells me not to take life too seriously, live a little, you could be gone tomorrow for all you know. Unfortunately, about a million other things tell me I should be settling down, 'acting my age' and keeping one eye focused firmly on the future. I'm never sure which side is winning.

I really feel like chatting about a million things football right now but I'm aware that I do that a lot on here and it's not everyone's cup of tea so I'm resisting the urge... I will be heading down to Suwon for their home encounter with FC Seoul tomorrow night before coming back up to see Kevin playing with a Rolling Stones cover band at Stompers in Itaewon and whatever else the night holds. Sunday will definitely be the day of rest that it's intended to be because I'll be on duty from 7.30am-9.20pm on Monday. Way to get dropped back in at the deep end.

I continue to read and relish 'David Copperfield' - in fact, I'm still only half way through it's 700-plus pages. I find the fixed social strata of the Victorian period so interesting. Every character seems to know where they stand in relation to the others. Of course, this is very limiting and Britain has gone to great pains to enable us to affect our own class rather than our blood (officially, at least). So many situations in the book require characters to keep the peace and act incredibly patiently even in the face of cruel injustice at the hands of those who, quite often, appear intellectually or morally inferior. In today's 'western' world (although Korea is an exception that I will come to in the future), it seems that everyone you meet has a strong sense of self and it's no longer acceptable to dismiss or talk down to those who may have come from a less-distinguished background, for example. I'm tempted to romanticize the era portrayed by Dickens but I obviously need to check myself. My Dad has worked, at various times, for the water works, as a farmer, a fisher and a bus driver. My Mum started working in a factory at 14 before becoming a 'domestic technician' and latterly an office worker (she has, however, also gone on to attain a 2:1 BA in Community Development in spite of the burden of having five children). If I had been born in Victorian England, my options would be pretty limited. Thankfully, I live at a time where those who are able can open up more and more options through hard work or education. Not that that's the case for everyone, regrettably, although it's a definite improvement on the prospects of even the previous generation.

Alright it's time I started having a life. I'm going to head out to meet either Thomas or Ji for a few sociables locally. Maybe just a couple of chapters of David Copperfield first... Have good weekend everyone.

Silverware!

Well it's a momentous night because, in all the time we've been supporting FC Seoul here, they have finally got their hands on some actual silverware! Ok, it might just be the Posco Cup (the third tier competition here, equivalent to the League Cup in England) but beggars can't be choosers. It was a 3-0 victory away to reigning league-Champions Jeonbuk Motors who recently inflicted a 1-0 defeat on us in the league. Having survived some sustained pressure at the beginning of the game, FC Seoul began to assert themselves and new signing, Djeparov, should have put them ahead having been put through one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Unfortunately he choked. That guy could really be doing with a goal to help him settle and become the key player I believe he has the ability to become for us. Goals from Dejan (which we missed as the TV directors were still showing a replay of Djeparov's miss), Jung Jo Gook (going with the 'baby' celebrations again) and substitute Lee Seung Ryeol sealed a famous victory for the Sangam-based club. Let's hope they can push on from here and seal the championship. I'll be going down to Suwon on Saturday night for a huge derby match with our traditional rivals, who have been showing improved form of late, since their change in management.

I was intending to shell out the stg2,100 for the final installment of my MA today but, annoyingly, my Irish debit card wouldn't work for me so I'll have to do it tomorrow. It's a huge amount of money to pay out at once and I've certainly never spent that much at once before. In saying that, it's nice to have got to this stage of my education without incurring any debt, so I know it's a lot less than some others have to pay in the long run. September is going to be a painful month for me financially but I'll start recovering from October onwards only for Christmas to clean out my pockets again. Ah the continuous cycle of earning and spending only to necessitate the need to earn further for future spending - why do we bother!? No, I know the MA is, in a way, an investment and I hope it'll pay off in the long-term. As for Christmas, I just (finally) uploaded my pictures of Christmas 2009 to facebook and it's something you can't really put a price on.

I was a PE teacher for the day yesterday at APIS. As pointed out by my sole commenter (mainly), it was a welcome change from the books. The kids at that school are predominantly ethnic Koreans but all are native English speakers. They are well-behaved and enthusiastic, in the main, but it's not always easy to motivate them all to participate in games. I think PE teachers are all too easily admonished by their peers but it's a skill I'd love to know more about. No doubt, encouraging children and teenagers to be more active and spotting talent where it exists are worthy activities. I always enjoy the atmosphere of the International School and it further whets my appetite. Hopefully 2011 will be the year...

Band practice just didn't happen this week because we all had other things going on. Still, Jim and I were just chatting tonight that we still might be able to practice briefly on Saturday and try a short gig later that night. I was eager to play Friday so that a few of those leaving soon might be able to hear us first, but we haven't played together in over a month so I guess it's too great a risk. I'm really keen to get things going again and build up some momentum so that we can be playing full gigs by ourselves by October. Let's hope we can get everyone on side to do just that.

Rob and I said our goodbyes tonight so I won't be seeing him again until Christmas. Jess, Kev and Jo all follow suit in the coming days so it's definitely the start of something new for us here in Seoul. It's pretty late here so I'm going to head to bed and read a few more chapters of David Copperfield now. I should have time to blog again tomorrow and I think it's time to write about one of those other topics I mentioned that I have been avoiding so far. I'm not as worried about ruffling feathers as I was when I started this carry on.

End of an Era

Well that was a really good weekend all round. I hope you can say the same for yourself. The 'unplugged' gig at RMT on Friday night was a big success. We had a great crowd in and there was a lot of good music on show. I really enjoyed singing 'The Weight' with Zee, Patricia and David and got a lot of confidence to push on from the night overall. There were four very different kinds of singers involved and I really enjoyed the others, especially from a technical point of view. I think all four of us are proponents of singing as a 'craft' and it was so interesting to see how each of us played according to our specific strengths and weaknesses. An acoustic night may lack the 'oomph' of a full band gig, but it definitely puts singers in the spotlight more. I wish I had spent more time doing these kinds of gigs with Kev before he upped and left. I'm glad for him that the night went well. Kev was one of the first people I met in Korea and through U R Seoul, he's one of a small group of people I've spent most of my free time with over the years in Korea. I know I'll see him again but it's undoubtedly a bit sad that things will never be quite like this ever again. That's not to say that they might not be even better in future. I'm looking forward to getting things properly up and running with my new band now that Jim is back in the country. It might be nice to see if I could get some kind of acoustic act together too. No doubt Barcelona is going to be exciting for Kev and Jo.

Saturday was a fun day and night too. I met up with Rob and Catherine at Wolfhound for what could well be the last time. I was determined to not dwell on that and just stay in good form for the night but I was a bit melancholy at times for sure. There was a whole bunch of us at the FC Seoul V Gangwon FC match at World Cup Stadium. It was a good game for the neutral as FC Seoul created a lot and Gangwon didn't just sit back and take it, without actually creating more than a couple of clear-cut chances mind you. The home side may have ran out 2-1 winners, but they certainly didn't make life easy for the fans. The impressive Choi Tae Uk took advantage of an horrendous defensive slip but, moments later, Seoul fell asleep at the back to allow the visitors to level. Seoul continued to create but frustrate before Jeong Jo Gook's clinical finish following good work from the ever-industrious Ha Dae Sung in midfield. Jeong later said it was he 'best goal ever' and dedicated it to his new-born son. Both he and striking partner Dejan were guilty of a few glaring misses but the 2-1 victory keeps us in third place behind Gyeongnam and Jeju with a game in hand. It was really encouraging to see Kim Chi Woo coming on as substitute following a lengthy absence through injury and Choi Tae Uk also looked good on the right, putting pressure on fellow new-signing Djeparov who was absent through injury himself.

FC Seoul have a chance to win their first silverware with the League Cup final away to Cheonbuk on Wednesday night. It'd be their first trophy in my time watching them but it's a tough away fixture against the reigning league Champions. You can watch highlights of FC Seoul V GangwonFC here.

Sunday was a gloriously lazy day of catching up with all the Premiership action on Saturday and staying up late for Newcastle's stunning 6-0 hammering of Aston Villa and Fulham's impressive 2-2 draw with Manchester United. I may have expressed dissatisfaction with the football last weekend but have to eat those words now: 22 goal difference between top and bottom after two games, Chelsea rampant, nigh-on impossible to predict behind them, goals, great saves and drama galore. Much has been said about Paul Scholes already this season and if you have a chance you should check out his interview with the bbc. It's strange that, although I've been watching him for 17 seasons, I barely know what he even sounds like. He came across as a very normal and likable bloke, not what you might hear or expect of other top professional footballers. Another mouth-watering tie tonight as Liverpool visit Man City. It's crazy that games this early in the season already feel so crucial to the team's hopes for he season. My fantasy football team continues to be average but I'm going to keep the faith (mostly) and give them a little bit longer to come through for me before I try something a bit more drastic. Certainly seems like a good idea to have a few Chelsea players in your line-up at the minute, but it's early days...

I'm in the last week of my holidays before everything gets busy again next Monday. I'm hoping to get as much preparation done as possible for my classes but there's only so much I can do before I get a feel for the classes and get to know the students and their capabilities. I'm subbing as a PE teacher at APIS tomorrow, which should be fun and will bring a bit of much needed extra cash. I pay my final installment of fees for my MA on Wednesday and it's going to be very welcome to have that annual burden off my back. It looks as though the new band will try to gig on Friday night if we can manage to fit a rehearsal in before then. If life is this busy when I'm not working, I dread to think what it'll be like from Monday next...

Back to Life

Nice to see a few people around campus this morning for their graduation. The Uni is a living, breathing organism (a word I embarrassingly misspelled throughout my first-year Science exam...) but it has been quiet all summer long. With the students coming back in a little over a week, things are returning to normal. Personally, I'll go from having vast swathes of free time to being really pretty busy. That's fine.

I just had my Korean language exchange, which was pretty tough today. I think because I've been studying quite a lot I got a bit ahead of myself. In reality, my level is still extremely basic and, as I'm constantly at pains to explain to my own students, learning a language requires a sustained effort over a prolonged period of time. Na Ra (my excellent Korean teacher) is off on holidays for four weeks but I'm still hoping to fit in a couple of lessons. I've decided that I'm going to keep them up even after my MA restarts. There's no point making progress over the summer only to let things drop again, as I have done before.

Anyway, I'm off to Itaewon now to meet Rob for dinner and then run over a few songs with Kevin, Zee and Patricia (whom I barely know) before the show tonight. I'm fairly hopeful there'll be a good number of people there and I think it's going to be a really enjoyable night. I had been feeling really guilty about pulling out of the Chillis gig tomorrow night and letting Cheon down so I text him earlier to cave in. Thankfully, he has found someone else but they're still pretty disappointed. I'm hoping I can meet them again and play a show somewhere else sometime. It might even be a good idea for the two bands (Cheon's band plus Jim, Jeff, Cheon and I) playing shows together until we can get a full set together. Ok I'm just thinking out loud here so I'm going to sign off. Have a great weekend everyone and if you're in Seoul tonight come along to Rocky Mountain Tavern for Kevin's big acoustic night.

Time, Precious Time

Ahhhhh at last I'm really enjoying the luxury of being off work and having whole days during which I can do whatever the hell I please. I know I have said before that I'm best not being left idle too long but, when I'm in the right form, there's nothing better than having no major commitments and just being able to potter about at your leisure. And I'm actually getting a lot of useful things done! The new semester will soon be upon us so I'm quite well prepared for the new TOEIC program and I've come up with few new ideas for my morning 'Brand English' class. Mostly, I have just realised that I'm going to be really busy next month with a fuller-than-normal teaching schedule and my Masters program starting back up again. As a result, I'm doing as much song learning, guitar playing, book reading, Korean studying and random time passing as I can fit in. For sure I'll miss it when term time rolls around again.

I bought a keyboard from my (departing) friend Jess last night and I'm looking forward to getting started on that again. I played piano to a decent level when I was young but haven't played a note since I was 15. I really didn't enjoy going through the motions of playing scales, learning pieces, doing grades and the humdrum practice that is the last thing on your mind when you're a teenager. Now, older and wiser, I'd love to be able to be able to play a bit at gigs or use it for song-writing (something I'll have to take more responsibility for now that John has gone). My guitar playing is gradually improving too so I'm still on course for playing live before the year is out, as my New Year's resolution requires. I just found out that I have ANOTHER song to learn for the acoustic gig tomorrow night that I'll be singing with Patricia, Zee and Kev, I presume. It seems that quite a few people are coming and I'm quite looking forward to it now. Like I said, if you're in the area...

I met up with Ji for dinner tonight in Suyu. She's pretty stressed out with her first full week at work and some extenuating circumstances that aren't helping her at all. I'm trying to be there for her as much as I can but stress is a funny thing that seems to constantly increase the size of the problem in your mind until you feel totally overwhelmed by it. Thankfully the weekend is coming for her just in time, I hope. It serves as another reminder of the work/life balance (a term I use with some discomfort). I, of course, plan and hope to get a job at an International School in 2011. When you think about it, I know that means long hours, high expectations, harder work and a certain amount of stress from time to time (something I rarely, if ever, experience in my current position). It makes you wonder why you want to do it, other than for reasons I wouldn't be too proud to admit to, such as status. Mind you, it's not as simple as that. I'd be teaching a subject I love, I would have goals and challenges, I would have more variety and work with professionals in a professional setting, and better long-term prospects to name but a few factors. It certainly is food for thought though.

Ok time is pushing on so I'm going to sign off but I plan to write more tomorrow. Also, if we are facebook friends, I'm FINALLY uploading pictures of my Eastern European trip at the end of last year as well as pictures from Christmas at home and some out and about Seoul before I had my camera cruelly STOLEN!!! Wow it takes a long time... but now that I've started I'm keen to get them all up even if only to avoid losing them altogether if something were to happen to my computer. Hope you're having a good day wherever in the world you are. I'll leave you with an oldie but goodie that I'll be singing a portion of tomorrow night.

Distinctly Average

Bit of a dangerous title for a blog entry but I'm referring not to myself or my wares, but to the first weekend of the English Premiership. I might be being a bit unfair but over the weekend none of the games really grabbed me and the more I have watched highlights and so on, the more underwhelmed I have become. I know there were some big wins (Blackpool catch the eye) but the games I was really looking forward to all ended as stalemates. I was hoping that Spurs could start off with a win against Man City (and they deserved to) because the constant splashing of the cash is becoming tiresome and I don't want to see that approach continually vindicated. I also can't understand what Shay Given has done to lose his place in the team, although I admit I'm biased towards my fellow Donegal native. And Joe Hart had a stormer, in fairness to him. On top of all that, my fantasy team were average and I'm already languishing in mid-table in most of my leagues. Obviously it's very, very early days, but it's never good to lose too much ground early on. I think I'll have to choose reason over gut and drop Rooney as my captain. It seems as though his World Cup form has carried over into the new season. Maybe my feeling that the weekend's football was average has as much to do with my own fantasy team and another home defeat for Derry City against Cork City Foras Co-op. Thankfully, Monaghan lost too, so we got away with it to an extent. Still, we need to get back to winning ways or risk squandering what was, at one stage, a 12-point lead at the top of the First Division. Oh please next weekend give me better news. A win for FC Seoul at home to Gangwon FC on Saturday would do the trick just nicely.

That'll be the last FC Seoul game I'll be at with my best mate, Robert (for the foreseeable future anyhow), as he leaves for England next week. I have mentioned before in the blog how people are always coming and going in Korea and that your friendship group is ever-changing. I have to say that this week will be different. It goes without saying that I have been close friends with Rob since we were about 13 (and known him since play-school) so it's going to be tough when he leaves. It's hard to put a value on having someone around in this environment who you know and trust completely and don't generally have to worry about how you are around them. I'm glad for him that he's moving onwards and upwards but of course I'll be sad to see him go. The very same week Jessica, a former co-worker, also leaves for England and she's someone I have also been very close to. The following week Kev (my long-time guitarist) and his girlfriend Joanna leave for Barcelona so it's shaping up to be a grim enough time. Thankfully I still have a lot of people here who I would consider to be friends, but the loss of those four is significant.

Saturday is shaping up to be such a busy night of goodbyes that I decided to pull out of the Red Hot Chili Peppers gig I was due to sing at. I feel really bad to let Cheon down at this late stage but there was no way I could miss any part of a night this important. I'm hoping I'll get the chance to do something some other time with Cheon's band. Jim (our drummer) gets back from England on Saturday so we'll hopefully be back rehearsing soon and might play a short show on Friday 27th somewhere. I'll write it here if we do. At the minute, my main focus is on the acoustic night at Rocky Mountain Tavern on Friday (20th). I'll be singing about ten songs with Kevin after sets by him, Zee (The Pines), and Patricia Chamless (Sour Mash). They are all really good singers so I hope I'm not shown up but we rehearsed last Saturday and it was sounding good so hopefully we can emulate that. I'm looking forward to singing at an acoustic gig because, fun and all as the 'rock' band thing is, this is much more complimentary to my voice. If you happen to be around Seoul on Friday night, try to make it along. I think it's going to be a nice chilled-out night with a lot of good music. I'm certainly looking forward to hearing Kev, Zee and Patricia again.

I can't really think what else I wanted to say today. This week I've been doing a fair bit of reading, studying Korean and trying to strengthen my quad in anticipation of maybe being able to walk properly again sometime soon. I've started doing a bit of preparation for my next semester again and I feel fairly sure of what I'll be doing for the first couple of weeks at least. Today, the girls in the office tried to give me money for the lessons that I taught them a while back. Basically, there were crossed-wires between my boss and her boss which led to me teaching the girls in the office as part of my summer schedule, only to find out I wouldn't be getting paid for it. The girls got the money together themselves but I definitely can't accept that because it wasn't their fault at all. The fact is that they probably get paid a little over half of what I do for a lot more work and much less vacation time so I think I can take the hit better than they can. In saying that, I'm going to be so skint next month I barely want to think about it (always the best way to handle your financial concerns...).

True to Life?

I wasn't planning on blogging tonight but a rogue mosquito made the mistake of buzzing past my ear as I was reading in bed and got me in all out attack mode. I got it pretty swiftly (the mosquito spray was a smart purchase) but only after it got me maybe five or six times on the knuckles (my favourite!) unbeknown to me. End result is that I'm wide awake at 4.18am so I may as well do something constructive with my time, if you can consider writing a blog as constructive. That's one for another day.

What I have been doing is a bit of research into Howard Hughes, the subject of the movie 'The Aviator' that I watched at Ji's last night. Ok, I know it isn't exactly current but I rarely watch big-money 'hit' movies when they are released. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, I abhor going to see hyped-up movies that everyone says I really have to watch when the reason they are so popular has as much to do with advertising and well-placed reviews than the quality of the film. Just think about it, how often are you let down with something you had gone in with high hopes for. Secondly, I often just can't be bothered. There you go.

Although 'The Aviator' was, no doubt, entertaining (although did it really need to be that long at 2 hours 49 minutes?), I always feel uneasy when watching the supposed story of someone's life. I did my history project for the Leaving Certificate on Michael Collins when I was 17, which involved reading three biographies. When I saw the movie later, I wasn't surprised by how the truth had been twisted to make it more entertaining to watch. What did surprise me was that people took the film to be a true representation. There are situations when that could be dangerous, and Ireland of an earlier time could have been one of these. I wondered at the the time why movie-makers couldn't just use the facts available to make an entertaining end product, there were plenty of them available. In my opinion, the embellishments were unnecessary.

The same could be said about 'The Aviator' but, in this case, it annoys me even more because Scorsese appears to have gone to some lengths to glamorise Hughes and, although some faults are portrayed, the seedier ones receive no mention. Hughes is painted as the wonder-kid, womanising, eccentric, misunderstood genius whose heart is in the right place. Without knowing much of anything about his life, I felt myself willing him to rise from the ashes as he is cross-examined by a Senate committee. In reality, covert contributions to Richard Nixon may have played a part in the Watergate scandal, something unmentioned here. Additionally, although presented as a gutsy alternative to preppy College boys, it could be argued that Hughes was a high-school and college drop-out with a silver spoon. I could go on.

Although the end of the movie gives a clue that all was not well with an OCD Howard Hughes, it ends before the craziest part of his life, which would have made great viewing, but obviously would have ruffled too many feathers. My understanding of Hughes is that he was a paranoid control-freak who used his privileged position in life to take advantage of others with little or no regard for those he might hurt along the way. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. Interestingly, his enduring legacy may be the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, founded as a means of averting tax. Even though it may not have been his intention, it sold Hughes Aviation to GM after his death for $5bn and is the richest charity is the US. What lesson can we learn from the way Hughes (who died in 1976 an opiate addict of suspected tertiary syphilis) lived his life and his lasting influence? The film tag-line claims, "Some men dream the future. He built it."

Lansdowne Aviva...

I stayed up last night to watch the Republic of Ireland's first match at their 'new' Aviva Stadium. In truth, it's a much-upgraded version of their old ground, Lansdowne Road, with a new name. This selling of stadium naming rights is becoming ever more common in football and I can't say that I like it, although I realise that's just the way it is. I hope people will still refer to it as Lansdowne Road and that it can retain the reputation it enjoyed under it's former guise, as a 'tough place to come'.

The first game was a so-called 'glamour-tie' against Argentina (although the use of that term seems somewhat wasted on a bunch of sweaty footballers such as Richard Dunne, Paul Mc Shane and Damien Duff - we're not based with very handsome footballers, we Irish). Without our manager Giovanni Trapattoni (fine Irish name if ever I heard one), who was in hospital having receivedsurgery , we were flattened by 'the Argies' (as Steve Staunton kept excruciatingly calling them on Sky Sports) for the first half and went in one-down at the break. The second-half was a more encouraging display but Argentina were rarely threatened and Robbie Keane cut a frustrated figure at the end of the game in which he earned his 100th cap.

I think that it's important that in Irish football, we remember to know our place. Our history at major championship finals only really stretches from 1988 to 2002 (so far - and we did also qualify for the 1964 European Nation's Cup), and we are a country of a little more than 4-million people, although with an admittedly vast diaspora, bless our little fertile socks. If we are to qualify for the European Championships of 2012 (to be hosted jointly by Poland and Ukraine) it will only be our second qualification for the event. Yet, bizarrely, a nation expects. My hope is always that we manage to bring through at least one or two players of real quality (the likes of Dunne, Given, Duff (who hasn't scored for Ireland for four-and-a-half years..) and Robbie Keane - all sadly nearer the end of their careers than we'd like) and a good number of players who can raise their game on occasion to punch above their weight. At present, we have a good number of the latter, but are beginning to lack in the former. I was heartened to see 19-year-old Greg Cunningham come on to make his debut at left-back (a spot owned by Kevin Kilbane a little longer than is ideal) but he will probably miss out on the 25-man Manchester City squad this season as he is behind Kolarov and Bridge in the pecking order. I still feel as tough we have a decent shot at qualification, but we need one of the likes of Cunningham, Gibson, McCarthy or Sheridan to really make strides over the next season or two. It'd also be nice to see players of the quality of Stephen Ireland and Andy Reid back in a green shirt sooner rather than later. First match of the big campaign will be on September 3rd away against Armenia, a must-win match if ever there was one.

I managed to find a good old Western movie to watch last night; 'Bad Company' (1972) starring a young Jeff Bridges alongside Barry Brown. No doubt you know Jeff Bridges as 'The Dude' in 'The Big Lebowski'. If you ever feel like boring me to death, just sit around quoting that movie at me. Guaranteed success. Perhaps you're less likely to know Barry Brown, the reason being that he committed suicide only 6-years after this starring role. He played a sensitive type in the movie and the following quote shows he was probably much the same in life.

"An overdeveloped imagination is necessary to being a good actor. But left to itself alone in a room, it can take over. It's like a demon that somehow leaps out of you and starts to do things to you."

I did quite a lot of acting as a teenager and young adult and that certainly rings a few bells in the people I saw around me and, especially, those who have gone on to pursue their dreams later in life (my sister being an exception in that she s exceptionally grounded). I was never anywhere near talented enough to consider that, so I was safe in that it was always just a fun and healthy way to enjoy my youth. I guess it seems obvious that some actors are likely to be escaping (or attempting to escape) from themselves, but as a good friend of mine once said, it takes more than changing where you are or what you do to alter who you really are, or determine whether you are happy or sad. Another quote spoke of how Brown only felt truly happy when he was acting. That struck a chord with me but, in my case, it's teaching that brings me that feeling. In the classroom I know the boundaries, the rules, the plan, the procedures. I alone am responsible for determining the outcome through my preparation or how I conduct the class. Alas, that luxury is not afforded us in our daily lives. Or if it is, please tell me how and where!

What Goes Up

Yet again another week in which it has taken me a while to feel 'normal' again after a heavy (and admittedly fun at times) weekend. People tend to laugh and make light of how 'rough' Mondays can be (and Tuesdays, and often Wednesdays) but I'm a bit sick of it so I'm opting to give my body and mind a bit of a break from alcohol for an indefinite time. I have a lot coming up over the next few weeks and a huge chunk of cash going out of my bank account this month so the timing is good. I know everyone says it, but I'm really serious this time. I know how hard it is in reality; a few drinks with friends, a football match to watch, a plethora of birthdays and leaving parties, singing at gigs, etc., but I really, really need a break - and to see if I'm still capable of taking one.

I used to randomly go off drink from time to time when I was younger. Sometimes it was because I was a poor student, sometimes because I was doing a lot of running and had something coming up, sometimes because Uni or school was particularly busy. In saying that, it has been about four years since I have actually followed an utterance of, "I'm going off drink for a bit" with action. Alcohol and our relationship to alcohol is something I think about a lot but maybe something I'll have a few more answers on in a few weeks.

Now that I'm back in the land of the living I have got back to working on songs for upcoming gigs (Friday 20th acoustic set with Kevin @ RMT, Saturday 21st RHCPs cover band with Cheon @ The Rolling Hall). I have A LOT of work left on one particular Chilis song but everything else should be ok. Hopefully. It'll be a different experience singing publicly without the luxury of a few beers to loosen the nerves but that will hopefully counteract my usual habit of making the odd slip here and there. I used to sing dry from time to time with my old band at Uni, 'Day Release'. I actually just received a few pictures from those good old days, one of which I'm going to add here to show you how young I looked as well as my 'special' taste in shirts back then...

Fantastic, eh? Thankfully I grew out of that phase. Some lucky guy had a field day in a charity shop in Canterbury in the summer of 2006, no doubt. Those were very good times and it's always nice seeing old pictures and having a bit of a blast from the past. Of course it wasn't all rosy but we had a lot of fun, were good mates and I wouldn't really change any of it I don't think. I'm looking forward to sending a video of my upcoming attempt at covering the Chilis to our old bassist Gary (far right in picture) because he's a big fan and was always trying to get us to cover them.

I just picked my fantasy football team for the 2010/11 season earlier this evening. My friends and I choose the league offered at www.premierleague.com and I had a pretty good season last time out. I usually think twice about entering because it can get really competitive and time-consuming but that wasn't the case last season, interestingly, when I was actually doing well and could have rubbed it in people's faces for a change! No doubt I'll be boring you with my progress here as the season progresses.

Well, I think that's enough for one day. I'm going to start reading 'David Copperfield' by Charles Dickens tonight and maybe watch a movie if I can root out something good around here. I'm notoriously hard to please when it comes to films, leading many to mistakenly think that I don't like them full stop. I'll write more later in the week. Your comments here or by email are always welcome.

K-League All Stars V FC Barcelona

Well I guess it could have been predicted that this would have been a drab enough affair and that would have been spot on. Although the final score was 5-2 (to Barcelona), don't be fooled into thinking that it was anywhere near a gripping affair. In fairness, the first half wasn't bad. The highlight was a 15-minute cameo from Messi during which he score twice. There had been a lot of aggro behind the scenes regarding whether or not he'd play. Tickets started at W78,000 (€50) so people expected to see him, especially considering that NONE of the Spanish World Cup winners were brought on the trip. As I mentioned previously, we got out tickets for free (and damned good seats they were too) but if I had paid for them, I would have felt pretty robbed. I think we all would have. It's probably not an argument to scrap these kinds of friendlies, but it's certainly a reminder to keep our expectations in check. I also hope that they scrap this 'K-League All Stars' idea. They played like strangers, because they were! It might be a spectacle if it's the best of the K-League versus the best of the J-League (as has happened in the past) but I'm confident that a club like FC Seoul would have had greater incentive to impress than a collection of players together for the first and only time. Manchester United only narrowly defeated FC Seoul 3-2 in a pre-season fixture last season. All round, it was a poorly organised and ill-considered event. Certainly not the advertisement for the K-League that I was hoping for.

Nonetheless, it was a good night out with good friends and I guess that's what it's all about. I'm thinking of going down to Jeonju to watch first-placed FC Seoul take on second-placed (and reigning Champions) Jeonbuk Motors on Sunday night at 8pm. I'm off on three weeks holidays now so I could just stay down on Sunday night and have a bit of a look around for a day or two. The fact that the game is on TV may prove a disincentive to travel. Before that I have a birthday dinner tonight and a leaving do tomorrow. There are a lot of leaving dos these days because a lot of people start new jobs in September (March being the other busy season). It's strange when a good portion of the people you spend a lot of time with just suddenly disappear from your everyday life, but I think I'm used to it by now. On this occasion one of the evacuees is my best friend, the person who convinced me to move to Korea in the first place. That will obviously leave a big hole. Still, you are always meeting new people in a place like this so you're never on your own or anything like that. I know that a lot of the people who are leaving will remain friends far into the future and I'm confident I'll see them again. It will definitely be strange though...

I finished reading 'The 158-pound Marriage' by John Irving earlier in the week. 'The World According to Garp' (by the same author) is one of my favourite books and the two share a lot of features. Irving seems to favour writing about writers and often includes stories within stories. This book also touches on issues of sexuality, marriage and the intricacies of human relationships. The fact that it only took me a couple of days to read speaks volumes. The characters are strong (although some are stronger than others) and the storyline is rich and unpredictable although it plods along at times. My main difficulty was in having conflicting feelings about who I was intended to support/identify with throughout, but that may have been the intention. Although it's not as good as the other two Irving books I've read (the third being 'A Widow for one Year') I would recommend that you take a look, especially if you feel as though you might have unconventional opinions about marriage/relationships, as I suspect I do.

I taught my last class of this session this morning. Well, in fact, I took the students to Ediya and treated them to a coffee. They were a good bunch. It takes a lot of commitment to come to a morning English class every morning during the summer, especially considering that it isn't even accredited this time. They bought a cake for the other teacher and I, a handy little organiser for me (that I definitely will use) and a card. The message is so sweet that I'm going to include it here:

Hi Brian!

I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. I'll never forget this summer.

I think that you're so energetic person, in spite of your leg hurts. I'm so lucky that you're my teacher. Thank you for your kind teaching. As long as I study English, I'll remember this experience and cherish it.

I hope your leg will get better soon. Take care and enjoy your time in Korea.

Jin

How cute! And not bad English at all considering the lady who wrote that is in her 40s with two teenage sons and a hell of a lot of other things to keep her busy. It's very nice to be (or at least feel) appreciated and realise that you're making a difference (albeit small) to the lives of those you teach. I'm looking forward to having three weeks off to prepare for a busy upcoming semester with three different courses to teach, the return of my MA and, hopefully, regular gigging again.

Briefly...

I totally forgot to mention that I got my exam results earlier in the week. They leave me on 79 overall for my MA with only my dissertation to go. I was initially a bit disappointed because it's soooooooo close (just one mark) to a 'First' or 'A' depending on where you're from. As I said before, I'm in this for a 2:1 but being so close is naturally a little frustrating. I just registered for my dissertation today so I get back on it next month. I wonder if my natural inclination will be to push for a 'First' or settle for a 2:1 when the going gets tough.

Rehearsal was a lot of fun last night and my first time playing with a Korean-only (other than me, obviously) band. The guys were very talented but very taught and more methodical than I'm used to. Still, they were impressed with my efforts at doing Anthony Kleidis justice and I'm looking forward to gigging with them on August 21st. I may have three different shows that weekend - more on that soon.

I'm off to Itaewon to meet friends for dinner before we head to K-League All Stars V FC Barcelona at World Cup Stadium. I'm hoping for a good match and I'm wearing my Dejan shirt to protest his omission! I'm sure the coach will take due note. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. Hope you're well.

Gone too fast...

In great form today. I'm going over songs for practice with Cheon's band tonight. We'll be doing a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover gig on August 21st in Hongdae somewhere. Who knew they had so many good songs? And that they are so much fun (albeit tricky) to sing? An idle mind definitely doesn't suit me. I'm much happier when I have something to do, something to look forward to. I should probably learn to make better use of my time in that case.

I didn't really listen to my own advice over the weekend. I was out and about but my knee was bothering me and I was feeling sorry for myself and being a bit grumpy with others. At this stage I've reminded myself that, in reality, other people's problems are boring to most so there's not much point airing yours. I much prefer trying to help someone else out rather than wallowing about whatever trifle is bothering me. That's all they are. Trifles. Oh I'd love a trifle now. Roll on being home for Christmas.

Was very happy with FC Seoul's 2-0 win over Jeju United to go top of the league at the half-way point of the season. Djeparov continued to impress, without really providing much of substance. Fellow new-signing Choi Tae-Uk made a bright cameo from the bench. Dejan weighed in with two more goals, Lee Seung Ryul looked composed and skillful, Choi Hyo Jin made a timely interception to save us once at the back. With Kim Chi Woo coming back and the likes of Ha Dae Sung becoming increasingly effective, I'm feeling more and more confident about this season. Highlights of the game with Jeju here.

Tomorrow night I'll be heading over to World Cup stadium with Ji and a few friends (that distinction always makes me chuckle a little) for K-League All Stars versus FC Barcelona. The Barca squad isn't as strong as it might have been but we should see the likes of Messi, Ibrahimovic and Hleb at least. Dejan hasn't been included in the All Stars team for some inexplicable reason but there will be three FC Seoul players there: Choi Hyo Jin, Ha Dae Sung and Lee Seung Ryul. I hope the K-League players do themselves proud.

Loads to do today so I'm going to sign off here. I'll write more soon about the John Irving novel I'm reading, 'The 18-pound marriage', as well as my two-cents on a couple of films I've recently seen. Comments (both private and public) welcome as ever.