Not Quite Top Gear

Our experience of the first ever F1 Korean Grand Prix was a story of ups and downs, much like the race itself. First off, our free tickets did materialise in the end and we even managed to swindle one for Ji, even though she's not actually a 'foreigner'. We got seats in the E-c stand that were actually worth way more than I would have ever considered paying. Great seats, cracking atmosphere, no major hitches with the bus or 4-hour+ journey south (having stayed up all night for fear of not being able to wake up on time...), so everything was looking good. As it turned out, a slight drizzle put a spanner in the works. The track looked a bit wet from when we got there at around midday but it was a 20-minute burst from about 2.30pm that led to the race being started under the safety car. That lasted only for three laps before the cars returned to the grid for a 45-minute delay. Despite the disappointment, it had been an amazing buzz witnessing the speed and sound of F1 cars in person. I have watched the sport for a long time, but I never imagined how exhilarating it would be live. Even the 'slower' drivers at the back of the grid are achieving incredible speeds and appear to be driving to an incredibly high level, considering the challenges they probably face in their less-advanced cars.

The race finally got going as the track dried out and we saw Webber losing it and colliding with the wall before collecting Rosberg and dealing his own title hopes a severe blow. By that stage, we were wondering if the time we had been told to be back at the bus was still valid, as there had been so many delays. Infuriatingly, we did have to still go back at 5pm and missed the vast majority of the actual racing. Catherine, Ji and I still had an amazing time and it certainly whetted our appetite for future F1 action. If I'm still in Korea next year, I think the best option would be to just stay in Mokpo and make a proper weekend of it. There's no real need for me to go into the race in detail here - you can check out the report on the bbc here. Matt (of burnblog and The Outside View fame) will have been heartened, no doubt, by Suwon beating Busan to lift the FA Cup and secure a spot in the Champion's League next season. We had the closing stages of the match live on the bus as we edged through the post-race traffic.

Aside from Grand Prix, we also had a short gig in Itaewon on Friday night. Much like the F1, it was a case of the good and the bad that left a clear set of mixed emotions. I never usually get very nervous before shows, but this being somewhat new led to a few jitters among us all. Starting off the first song with barely audible vocals didn't help... Things picked up, it was fairly tight, people liked it, a few songs were particularly good, but... it's not going to be the way it was for a long, long time. It's definitely a case of re-setting our expectations and enjoying the process of getting back to the level of performance and energy we had in the past. We got straight back to work with a rehearsal on Saturday and took another big step. We need to keep it up because we'll only have two more sessions together before our firs show at Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon on November 6th. We'll be nervous, but I'm determined to enjoy it.

Alright, Monday going ok here and hope it is for you too. I'm starting a new session with two new classes tonight so cross your fingers that I get off on the right foot with them both. I also have a work meeting so let's hope it'll be productive and not unearth any unwelcome surprises...

Must Dash...

Barely any time today (it takes a long time to do feck all). For those of you in Seoul, we have a gig tonight at Woodstock in Itaewon at 11pm for about an hour. Our set will look something like this:

Born to be Wild - Steppenwolf
Sunshine of your Love - Cream
Hey Tonight - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones
Otherside - Red Hot Chili Peppers
My Iron Lung - Radiohead
Ticket to Ride - The Beatles
Time is Running Out - Muse
Steady as she Goes - The Raconteurs
Hash Pipe - Weezer
Fell in Love with a Girl - The White Stripes

No original materials just yet. You gotta learn how to walk before you can run. Hopefully this marks the beginning of a prolonged period of gigging that runs and runs. Be good to see you there if you're in the area.

That's all for now (I'm already late for late lunch/early dinner with Tommy). Webber fastest in first practice for the Korean Grand Prix on Sunday. I'll try to get online tomorrow for a preview but.. you know the weekend generally goes. If I don't speak to you tomorrow, have a good one everybody!

Dead End Friends, Ulsan, Week Off & Korean F1 Grand Prix

Last Friday night we got together for another band practice to help edge us that little bit closer to being ready for our first 'big gig'. We had to settle for a bit of a dodgy rehearsal room which had a pretty bad echo and the mics kept cutting out so it wasn't easy to work on anything especially detailed, but it was another step. Afterward, we sorted out a few dates for gigs, rehearsals and even a few band name suggestions. We're going to be playing at Woodstock, Itaewon, this Friday night (October 22nd) at 11pm. If you're in the area, come support us and we'll love you forever. We're that easy. It'll just be an hour set but the idea is to limber us up for our first full gig at Rocky Mountain Tavern, Itaewon, on November 6th. I'll get a facebook group set up to start pestering you all to attend once we have decided on a name. At the moment I'm favoring 'Dead End Friends' but we're not sure yet as a whole. Time is running out for your brilliant suggestions...

On Saturday, Jimbo and I did the 4-hour trek by train to Ulsan. Unfortunately, there's no KTX route from Seoul to Ulsan until next month, so we took a KTX to Daegu then a slow train East to Ulsan. We made a night of it on Saturday. Some of it was probably a bit too odd to mention here but I would recommend Ulsan as a fun night out. I even managed to get Jim, who has been very sensible of late, on the soju. Successful night all round. Weird, but successful.

I wasn't feeling the freshest on Sunday morning but we got ourselves out for the game nonetheless. As we were standing along the road waiting for a taxi in our FC Seoul shirts, some Ulsan fans picked us up to give us a lift to the stadium! Just like home, eh? Pretty damn friendly of them. Especially as we then went on to win 2-1, which was a MASSIVE result. There were probably around 300 FC Seoul fans at the game, which is pretty impressive. They were in fine voice for the full 90 minutes, even though a fair portion appeared to be missing the action in doing so... The goals came from Ha Dae Sung and Choi Tae Wook as part of a battling performance all round. Ulsan looked pretty good, but we had two goals ruled out for very marginal looking offside decisions and were good value for the win overall. With Jeju only drawing at Jeonbuk and us having a game in hand, our away match against them next week is now absolutely huge in deciding who finishes top and goes straight into the play-off final. It looks as though we'll be without Adi (fractured cheekbone), while Lee Seung Ryeol and Kim Chi Woo were also absent on Sunday, but we have to be quietly confident of our chances at this stage.

-2010 RANKING TEAM POINTS W D L F A GD 1 JEJU 54 16 6 3 50 24 26 2 SEOUL 52 17 1 6 50 22 28 3 SEONGNAM 43 12 7 5 38 20 18 4 GYEONGNAM 43 12 7 5 36 25 11 5 JEONBUK 42 12 6 6 45 33 12 6 ULSAN 41 12 5 8 37 29 8 7 SUWON 34 10 4 10 34 38 -4 8 BUSAN 30 7 9 9 34 33 1 9 INCHEON 29 8 5 11 39 43 -4 10 POHANG 27 6 9 9 35 44 -9 11 CHUNNAM 26 6 8 10 36 42 -6 12 GANGWON 21 5 6 14 30 49 -19 13 DAEJEON 21 5 6 13 25 45 -20 14 DAEGU 19 5 4 15 27 46 -19 15 GWANGJU 18 3 9 12 14 37 -23

After the match we were again having problems finding a taxi (the stadium was pretty much in the middle of nowhere) and kind of cheekily asked a couple in a car for 'directions' in the hope that they'd just offer us a lift. They took the bait... They turned out to be really nice and Jimbo and I had a further chance to practice our Korean. It's nice having Jim along for that because his Korean is so much better than mine so I pick up a fair bit from him. The couple spoke some English too. Apparently the man is planning to, "make a baby this year". How romantic.

I'm off work this week so I SHOULD be working on my dissertation and learning song lyrics for Friday night. However, so far I've just been getting up kind of late and doing a lot of reading and generally time has just been flying by. I did go cycling by the Han with Stephanie last night, which was fun and looked beautiful. The Han River at night always reminds you what a nice city we actually live in. I'm having dinner with Ji and her parents tonight. They're in the country for a family wedding and the fact that I 'can't' go has left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. However, I do understand it to an extent and will just have to pretend I don't mind, which I seem to be doing a lot of recently.

This weekend, Korea will host it's first F1 Grand Prix. It has always been an ambition of mine to go see one (if that can be called an ambition) and this seems like as good an opportunity as I'll get for a while. There's some facebook group that I, apparently, have a free ticket through but I remain skeptical. It looks as though there's a bus going down on Sunday morning and back after the race so that'd be perfect. The 'free tickets' are only for foreigners (controversial) so I'd just go 50-50 with Ji if that were the case. There are a few people who seem interested in going but I'm not sure how many of those are 100%. Anyway, if you're thinking of going and you want to book a place on a bus from Seoul to Yeongam (site of the Grand Prix) and back on Sunday, let me know and I'll give you the relevant email address. That's me over and out for today.