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.

What a difference a day makes..

...ok a few days. Still. What a difference. Went to the hospital yesterday expecting to have more fluid drained (NOT a pleasurable sensation) and facing up to being told that I'd need surgery. As it turned out, he reckons it's healing (although I need to rest it more) and gave me a new brace with a little more room for movement (setting me back another W230,000...). No huge needles were stuck into my knee. Always a bonus. Next appointment is August 30th by which time I should be able to flex my knee up to 90 degrees (I just noticed there's no 'degrees' symbol on my keyboard...) and been strengthening my quad again gradually. He was showing me some exercises and I was pretty horrified to realise that I can't raise my leg in the air when I'm laying down anymore. Whatever little muscle I had has just shriveled up. Lovely thought.

After the hospital Ji and I headed to Dobong Station which is actually where I lived in my first year in Korea (from December 2006-December 2007). In a place like Seoul, it's amazing how much an area can change in less than three years. In Cooley (where I grew up) I can see a few new houses or different road signs and so on each time I go back. In Dobong, however, the entire feel of the place has changed. There are coffee shops, nicer-looking restaurants, everything looks cleaner and more modern. I guess it would have been a more comfortable place to live like that but I'm glad my first year in a totally different culture was slightly difficult. I wouldn't change it.

I'm looking forward to a nice weekend of hanging out with friends and having a few beers. We got great news this week when Ji got five free tickets for the K-League All-Star match against FC Barcelona next week. We had already bought tickets but she can cancel them for a small fee and our new seats are MUCH better. It's fairly common in Korea to receive little freebies through someone you know and I'm always grateful when it happens. I've had a fair few in my time here. It never seemed to happen in Ireland/England. Not to me anyhow. So that's a few quid saved and probably the best seats I've ever had at Sangam World Cup Stadium. Let's hope Barcelona bring a few decent players and that Dejan gets the nod for the K-League team.

He was on form again last Wednesday night in the 4-2 win (aet) against Suwon in the semi-final of the Posco Cup. It wasn't always a great performance but Dejan took his goals really well and was unlucky not to bag his hat-trick when his beautiful curling shot with the outside of his boot just hit the post. The game was tilted in Seoul's favour by two substitutes; Lee Seung Ryul and new-signing Server Djeparov. Lee scored two instinctive goals and looks to be the next young star that will move on to bigger and better things, following in the footsteps of Park Ju Young, Ki Seung Young and Lee Chung Young. Djeparov, making his debut, looked bright and inventive even though he didn't contribute anything concrete on this occasion. He is captain of Uzbekistan and was AFC Player of the Year in 2008. He's only on loan from Budonkyor but, if he can build on this performance, could be a key player in our push for the championship. On Saturday we have a top-of-the-table clash with leaders Jeju United, who will be keen to get revenge for their 5-1 drubbing in the Posco Cup last June. I'll be there so you'll hear about it early next week. You can watch highlights of the cup win over Suwon here.

I think I may have got on the bad side of my boss yesterday because I missed a program development meeting when I was at the hospital. Unfortunately, there was no way around it and I made sure to get copies of anything I missed, etc. I think that, in Korea, there's a big culture of doing things simply because they are expected of you, not because they actually need to be done. In general I'm hard-working and well-prepared so I'll be back in the good books soon enough I'm sure. I only have one class each morning these days so I have plenty of time to prepare for the next semester, which will be more of a challenge than the first half of the year, I'd imagine. I'm quite looking forward to it.

My advice to you this weekend is to go out, meet up with good friends and to talk and laugh as much as you can. I'm sure it sounds blindingly obvious but the benefits of just relaxing and spending quality time with good people shouldn't be under-estimated. Have a good one everyone!

It's just rock n' roll..

Be warned: I'm still a bit grumpy and off-colour BUT I had a brief respite when my new band (as yet unnamed - suggestions still welcome!) played not just our first but our first AND SECOND gigs last Friday night. We rehearsed in Hongdae (in a really psychedelic, chilled out rehearsal space) then decided over chicken and beer that we were ready for our first show. Aren't all the best decisions made over chicken and beer? A few texts later and we were playing our first ever gig at Club FF. It was an almost entirely Korean crowd, which isn't the norm for me here in Korea strangely enough. Nonetheless we had them up and dancing within a couple of songs. I even managed to wiggle about a bit in spite of my splint. Onstage chemistry seemed good. The guys are brilliant musicians. They really are.

Drunk on the atmosphere, we decided to taxi ourselves over to Itaewon and play a second impromptu show at Woodstock in Itaewon. A few of our friends were there (only my girlfriend made it over to FF given the short notice - she wouldn't have missed it) and there was a decent crowd even though it was very late on a Friday night. Given that we finished our set just before 4am, I can't say with any certainty how great/otherwise we were. Still, it was fun and we got plenty of good feedback. It all augurs well for the future. Jim flew back to England the very next day. What a trooper. Come back soon buddy. I had missed it so much. There is no better feeling. Ok, well, maybe I wouldn't go that far...

We headed out again on Saturday night and it was fun. Spent most of Sunday chilling out with Ji. Back into the routine of teaching and so on since then. My form hasn't been good but I won't bore you with that (again). Off to watch FC Seoul in their big Posco Cup semi-final against arch-rivals Suwon Bluewings tonight with a few friends. Good win away last weekend against Gwangju Sangmu. Ha Dae Sung scored a scorcher (his sixth of the season) and it was good to see Jung Jo Gook add a quality second. Check out the highlights here. Couple of key players returning to fitness (including Kim Chi Woo, who I'm a big fan of) so it'd be great to get into a final and push on from there.

Back to the hospital again tomorrow. Say a prayer, cross your fingers, sacrifice a cow, do whatever you think might result in me getting unexpectedly good news. There's a video from one of our shows so I promise to get that up soon with some pictures (the picture above is from an old gig with U R Seoul). I'll write more when I'm less likely to sound like a self-obsessed bore. Perish the thought! I hope you're all well.