Frickin Penalties...

If you're in Korea, and you stayed up to watch the Japan match last night, I'm sure you're feeling much the same as me today - tired and dissatisfied! Having pulled themselves back into the contest with a last-gasp equaliser at the end of extra time, they fluffed their chance of progressing to the final of the Asian Cup by missing THREE penalty kicks in the shoot-out. Much has been made of the inexperience of the three penalty takers, but I guess they are always a bit of a lottery. It pains me to say it, but Japan would have been fairly hard done by had they failed to make it through this one. Overall, encouraging tournament because of the number of young players making their mark for the national team such as Ji Dong Won, Son Heung Min, Ku Ja Cheol (their player of the tournament next to the mercurial Park Ji sung in my humble opinion), Lee Yong Rae, Yoon Bit Garam and even Jung Sung Ryeong. Still a bit worrying that they are so intent on walking the ball over the line so often and lack an out-and-out goal-scorer at the very top level.

Cross your fingers for me tomorrow as I conduct my first international school interview. It's for a primary ESL post in Cairo so, although it's not EXACTLY, what I had in mind, it represents a significant opportunity for my to get closer to doing what I really want to do. Such is the nature of a 'career', it appears. The school seems great (an IB World School, well-resourced, in a good location) and Cairo is that bit closer to home than Seoul. I don't quite know how I feel about leaving Korea and everyone and everything I know here behind. A new adventure...

Five minutes til rehearsal for our 'Muse' gig on Saturday. We met up last night and it was already sounding good. The old falsetto came through for me and the guys know their stuff, as I had predicted they would. The old ears took a battering though. I really need to invest in some earplugs... Waffle over! I'll let you know how the interview goes. And if you have any recommendations for what I should do in Shanghai (leaving next Wednesday morning), don't be shy in sharing.

Whoosh!

Not sure where today went at all. Absolutely packed day of teaching. DDE classes from 9:30-2:20 conferences from 2:30-3:30 and kid's classes from 3:50-5:40. Those of you who do this all the time, I salute you. Tomorrow it's DDE 9:20-4:20 then another class at 6. I'll be a happy man to see the weekend. That is for sure.

The good thing about being busy is that it stops your mind from drifting and I, for one, just tend to keep my head down and get on with things. More potential research subjects contacted (up to six now (make that seven as I write)), another job applied for (in China this time), songs chosen for a gig coming up in early March, Muse songs gone over for the gig next weekend, tax documents readied for tomorrow, and a bit of a read of 'Time' to make sure I don't totally lose sight of what's going on out there in the big bad World.

The Muse gig is going to be a test of my falsetto (it's currently failing miserably but I'm spurring it on), but something I'm looking forward to as it'll be my first real taste of a 100% Korean gig. I'll be singing for Cheon's other band, in front of a (I expect) fully Korean audience, in a Hongdae club I've never been to before. Forgotten how good Muse are? Here's my favourite from what we'll be covering on the night:

The early-March gig is going to be a 'Rock of Ages' event with a number of singers covering the likes of Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, ACDC, ZZ Top, Van Halen, and so on. Definitely beyond my comfort zone, but that's generally a good thing I think. I just chose the songs I'd like to try, and there are a couple I'm really looking forward to. I'll leave you with one of them. Hope you are all having a happy and productive week.