Na Na Na Na N Na Na Na Na

Holy crap the weather is insane here today. I don't normally get bothered by thunderstorms but this one is unnerving me a little. I watched a huge bolt of lightning strike the building just opposite mine about half an hour ago and I'm sat on the top floor of mine in a room walled by mostly glass on one side... Safe...

More importantly than the precarious nature of my life, I had plans today! I was supposed to go cycling with Stephanie or, depending on the weather, hang out at least. We had to give up on that one. I'm also meant to go meet the boys after they finish playing screen golf (not quite up to that yet) for dinner but I'm not sure if that's going to happen either. The rain here is just like a blanket of water so, umbrella or no umbrella, you wind up getting drenched anyhow. The next time a Korean accuses Ireland of having bad weather I'm going to be less diplomatic than I usually am. Six more weeks and we'll be freezing our arses off for winter before an all-to-brief spring leads us back into a summer of sweltering heat. At least in Ireland, we know not to expect much...

Really fun weekend just passed. Friday night I somehow forced myself through the fatigue to head out with Thomas, Gerry (aka Tom and Gerry from Derry) and Jonny, another Ulsterman - nice to travel and meet new people, eh? Few drinks, pool, good music, bit of dancing on the wonky knee, lots of laughs - it was just what the doctor ordered -well, maybe not the dancing part. Someone actually told me I'm the WORST dancer they've ever seen, but I had my knee as an excuse. I'll show 'em! Saturday was productive (by my standards) because I met up with Ji, bought a second-hand bike and spent a couple of hours cycling the paths near where we both live. So, so nice and relaxing. We headed down to Hongdae for galbi with John, back visiting on a visa run for his new job in Mongolia. It was good to see him. His new adventures certainly fueled my growing desire to move on to pastures new...

Nice Sunday hanging out with John, bit of cycling (removing the tension built up by our 160 km/h on average taxi ride home last night...), bit of getting caught in the rain, bit of Man Utd V Liverpool. I'm not going to go on about football in this post (apparently I do so too much...) but it's amazing how easy it is getting to watch so much live sport live on your computer. Sites such as myp2p.eu show football, motorsport, cricket, rugby... nearly anything you'd like to watch is on there! It hasn't quite got to the point where I can watch Derry City FC in the comfort of my own home in South Korea yet, although I'm not sure that's a bad thing considering the results they've been having recently...

Working on Monday wasn't so bad. A lot more students showed up than I had expected but it was a pretty laid-back atmosphere with the holidays coming up. It was actually nice to have the opportunity to work with a smaller group of students and get to know them all a little better. I only see my General English girls once a week and I have nearly a hundred of them in total so that's not easy. I also got a W200,000 Chuseok bonus from my Uni, so I'm les inclined to moan about them than usual... What can I say, I'm cheap! After classes I met Ji and we cycled out of the city into a surrounding hiking trail and it was beautiful. I love living where I live. All the convenience of the city but the fresh air and ease on the eye of the countryside just a short cycle away. I love my bike... It's like being a teenager again!

After some confusion, we finally managed to arrange a rehearsal for late last night. It wasn't all plain sailing but we made a bit more progress and have another session booked for Saturday afternoon. It's all about building up some momentum at the minute. We might even arrange a short gig (maybe just one set) for Saturday October 2nd in Itaewon or Hongdae. Musically, it's all sounding good, but we're still a long way from the energy and atmosphere of U R Seoul. Maybe my best night with them (although Jim was out of the country so we had Craig covering on drums) was for the Seoul V The Beatles benefit in Freebird, Hongdae, the year before last I think it was. I'll leave you with a video taken from that night. Aaaah memories... Will I ever be in a band that fun again?...



Wow my hair was long....

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.