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...