Seasonal Affective Disorder

Although this past winter has not been bitterly cold, it has seemed to drag on forever. With the exception of a couple of nice days at the beginning of March, it has been cold for what seems like forever - until last Thursday. We have now had four really nice warm days - days with temperatures around 20C.

I feel a lot better now. I wonder if I have just had a bad case of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

The Well-dressed Man

Once again, I find myself lagging behind when it comes to fashion.

I mean, really, I didn't know that "The future will be a Y-shaped dystopia". I didn't even know what a dystopia was, although I kind of guessed it was a dysfunctional utopia. Dictionary.com says it is, "a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding". Umm, okay. Now that I know, I'm not sure I want to know.

Those whom I work with will undoubtedly agree with that my fashion sense lies somewhere between conservative and sloppy (perhaps a sloppy, conservative). I'm going to change. I'm still trying to decide which style would best suit a university professor.




















The Conservative Look (although I think it would make my legs look really skinny and my ass big).

















I kind of like the meter long tie and the cape. The arm warmers and leather gloves are perhaps a bit much, but I could pull it off - I think.




















There are times when I think, "What the hell! I'm just gonna do it!" I've never had a scarf with buttons before. I might have to pass on the eye shadow, but, overall, I could live with that style.

But, seriously, who wears these fashions.

Koreans Aren't to Blame

Koreans Aren't to Blame

This article by Adrian Hong in the Washington Post is thoughtful and interesting in light of the self-flaggelation that many Koreans seem to be enjoying. Why are they all apologizing? Just feeling really sorry that the event occurred is enough, I think.

Korean car culture

I was talking to my students today about cars, air pollution, traffic conjestion, and social responsibility, and I was surprised (although I really don't know why) at how much of their behavior is controlled by concern for their social standing.

The general concensus in the class was that there were too many cars on the road and that the engines were far larger than needed for Seoul or Korea driving; however, one student said that his father was the head of a company and he had no choice but to buy a large fully-loaded Hyundai Grandeur (with black windows and leather seats of course), spending far more money than he wanted to for a car he didn't really need or want. The reason - his employees would want to buy nicer cars than their neighbors (thus showing how much better their jobs were), but none of the employees would have dared to buy a nicer car than the boss. So, he cleared the way for them to buy expensive cars by buying a really expensive car himself. The rest of the class acknowledged that this was pretty standard.

As a Canadian guy, I admit that, if I were living anywhere but Seoul, I would want the coolest car I could get and that it would probably be far bigger than I needed, but my biggest concern would have been whether I could afford it, not whether my car was nicer than the boss's or my neighbors'.

I'm sometimes surprised at the power of the junior/senior relationship here.

Conflict of Interest

This is the entrance to the Rock n Roll bar. Look closely at the notice taped under the 'Rock n Roll' sign. It's for a shop in the same building as the bar.

On second thought, perhaps it's just smart marketing.

Makes me want to cry

I was looking for websites that would help my students with their essays; however, this is not what I had in mind.





"THE ART OF RELIEVING STUDENTS' PAIN" - What about causing teachers pain?

Order writing of fully referenced original custom paper on any topic, any type of assignment, in a required discipline and within 8 hour deadline.

All papers are WRITTEN FROM SCRATCH by the graduate writers according to your instructions and there is NO DANGER OF PLAGIARISM. We have a large staff of writers, which means we can group them by different disciplines and subject specializations. The papers written are never reused, nor sold as pre-written essays, as we are not affiliated with any pre-written essay database site, unlike some of the competitors in the market.

"[T]here is no danger of plagiarism" - How about the danger of becoming an unscrupulous, lying asshole?

They even have "operating principles" - isn't that a tad bizarre for a website that helps people cheat?

And, if you are worried that your essay might be too good. Not to fear - they even have people who can make the same types of mistakes as you.

Some customers require that the writer possessed a particular type of the language. Each customer may choose, if possible, out of:

• Native speaking American English writer
• Native speaking British English writer
• Non-native speaking writer (to resemble the language of a non-native speaking customer).

• 
  

The number of grammar mistakes that I see on this website makes me think that most of their work is done by non-native speakers.
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Update:
Clearly there were tears in my eyes when I first looked at this site. On scrolling down later, I found this:

There are strong reasons WHY your cooperation with CustomWritings cannot be labeled as cheating:

you DON'T STEAL anything from us you pay a FAIR PRICE for our services our writers get both financial and spiritual REWARD for their work you simply DELEGATE your tasks and focus only on those things that REALLY MATTER IN YOUR LIFE It is absolutely LEGAL in the US and Europe, as there are no laws prohibiting this

At CustomWritings.com we believe IT'S ETHICAL to get an outside help and delegate your writing assignments to professional writers same as if you would get your watches fixed or car repaired by third party experts.

Gee, "...we believe IT'S ETHICAL to get an outside help [sic]...", I guess it must be okay then. "...[T]he same as you would get your watches fixed or car repaired by third party experts." For crying out loud, you don't get a grade for the work that your mechanic did. Nobody thinks you fixed your own car. It's not the same thing. This, of course, brings to thought that wonderful quotation in Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, "The horror! The horror!" Let me say this about that: It's cheating. You can't just make up your own definition. It's cheating. And, if you use this service, you're a cheater.

Defensive walking in Seoul

Everyone seems to have this one on their blog, so I thought I should put up just in case you missed it. It is, sadly, very true.

Korea Sparkling

When dynamic just isn't enough.

Someone obviously thought that "Dynamic Korea" was getting a little stale (and, in reality, who didn't).

Korea's new tourism theme is - "Korea Sparkling". They expect it to bring in 10,000,000 visitors. Say it a couple of times. Still don't get it. Try the Official Korea Tourism website. Don't be afraid to click on the banner. Wait for it, "Korea Sparkling". It sounds even better when a young Korean stud says it.

You know, I still don't get it. If you were sitting in the comfort of your home in Toronto, thinking of where to go on vacation, which would draw you in "Korea Sparkling" or "amazing Thailand" or "Supernatural British Columbia"?

I think that someone, after they had printed all of the promotional material, realized they had a problem. Now this might actually make me think twice.

Honestly, selling English language advertising in Korea must be like taking candy from a baby. World-renowned brand expert Simon Anholt: "Oh, yes, Mr. Kim. This will have people stampeding to get into Korea. Really."

I think I could come up with something better (Well, maybe not the girls). Even the little logo is a little puzzling.

The symbol of two overlapping windows means traditional and modern elements' coexist in harmony, while the white empty square in the middle represents a window that visitors can fill from their own experiences.

Sure.

I guess it will fit right there beside Huby.

Starbucks and rice cakes

Two Starbucks outlets in Seoul will start selling Korean rice cakes soon. Since one of those two outlets is at the front gate of my university, I'll check it out and see how good they are. To be honest and fair, I've never been a real fan of rice cakes, so I may have to survey a few patrons as well.










My favorite place in Seoul is O'Sulloc, and Starbucks, in my humble opinion, has a long way to go before they catch up. O'Sulloc is a green tea version of Starbucks. In addition to green tea, O'Sulloc sells green tea latte and cappuccino. Their cakes and pastries are to die for. Everything they sell has at least a sprinkle of green tea on it. And, if you want something a little sweeter.

In looking at the O'Sulloc website, I just discovered that they have a Jongno outlet - across from the YMCA. I think I'll check it out today.












The only problem with O'Sulloc, and a small problem it is, is that the clientele are mostly young women. Usually, the only men in O'Sulloc have been dragged there by their well-being-minded girlfriends. I guess green tea still isn't seen as a manly drink yet.

Lifetime employment for me

President seeks better English skills for pupils

President Roh Moo-hyun said yesterday that he wants Koreans to have a better command of English, so that they won’t be “depressed” because of difficulties speaking the language.

I had never thought of myself as a "psychologist" but perhaps I'm helping people avoid depression by teaching them English. Do shrinks get paid more than teachers?

“Our students are the best in many fields, but one weak point is English,” Roh said, noting that Koreans spent 4.4 trillion won ($4.7 billion) abroad and 10 trillion at home to study English.

I always find it odd that Koreans are so critical of their English ability. I've taught students from many countries and I've always been impressed by Koreans' ability. As for English helping them economically, which is one of their big beliefs, I've always thought that Koreans speak much better English than the Japanese, and that hasn't hurt the Japanese too much.

In addition, the government is working to build English villages on Jeju Island for less privileged children to learn English...“I am especially worried that a few students who have better living conditions may improve their English faster than those who are disadvantaged,” Roh said.

People with better living conditions seem to do everything better. I wonder why that is. Could it be that better food and more comfortable surroundings make people happier and happier people learn better? At any rate, although the president often seems weak, confused, and misguided, I think that anything that can be done to help the less-privileged is a good thing.

During the event yesterday, Roh was asked by a student how he had learned English. The president answered, “I did my best, but what I did was only reading and studying grammar without the chance to speak the language.”

I hope that no one notices this. Our university seems to think that our students can speak well but they can't read and write well. We are going to focus on teaching writing. Can it be that we are out of step with President Noh's educational theories?

I've always thought that it is more natural for all four skills to be taught together. I think that, if you read about something, hear it, talk about it, and write about it, you reinforce the vocabulary and grammar, see everything in similar but different contexts, and then really understand it. But that's just me.

iPod Nano

After two and a half years of pretty heavy use, my iRiver died. The buttons have always been a little off, and, recently, it could take 20 or 30 presses on the power button to get it to turn on. I usually had to take the battery out to turn it off. I originally bought it because I wanted to be able to replace the batteries easily, but it became a bit of a pain to always have an extra battery in my pocket.

I replaced it with a 4Gb iPod Nano. It's lighter, feels better made, and has nice controls.

At 4 Gb, it holds almost all of my CDs.

The Donkey Show

A colleague showed me this picture of some posters that he saw in his Seoul neighborhood. Neither of us knew anything about a donkey show, so we did what any normal person would do - Googled it and checked it out on Wikipedia.

A donkey show is a form of live entertainment in which a person (usually a woman) performs sexual acts with a donkey.

The picture is pretty erotic - a beautiful, scantily clad women in front of a stage prop that looks like a woman's body part.

Although there are some pretty raunchy shows to be found in Seoul (so I've been told), this is a pretty conservative place. I just can't imagine that they would really be allowed to hold and advertise a real donkey show. At the very least, the SPCA would probably complain.

The poster says that The Donkey Show is a Broadway production, but Googling that didn't turn up anything. I did find that it was an off-Broadway show:

THE DONKEY SHOW - now in its 4th SMASH year - is a party, a show and a disco all wrapped up into one. It's the Off-Broadway Hit You Can Dance To...An Now Sing To! Decadence, disco and divas - behind the velvet ropes into a Studio 54 wonderland - THE DONKEY SHOW is NYC's # disco destination. Through all your favorite disco hits like CAR WASH, LAST DANCE and WE ARE FAMILY - the story of Shakespeare's MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM unfolds all around you at Club El Flamingo in NYC!
Here's your chance to sing along to all your favorite disco hits from THE DONKEY SHOW and create your own 70's party wherever you are. For tickets and more information about the show in NYC and other cities - check out www.thedonkeyshow.com

This seems more likely. I'm sure the William Shakespeare is turning over in his grave. I can just see them doing that disco great, The Car Wash, at The Rose. I may have to check it out just to see if it's on the up and up.

Yellow Sand

I was going to go for a long Cheonggyecheon walk this morning, but I found this link to the U.S. Military 18th Medical Command on the Lost Nomad's blog and changed my mind. The last time I went for a full day walk on a bad yellow sand day, I felt like crap for a couple of days. I've a link to this website on my sidebar so that I can easily keep track of it.

I now have masks tucked away in all of my bags.

The only good thing about this is that I learned something new. I didn't know what 'ug/m3' meant. It is 'micrograms per cubic metre'. At 1064 ug/m3 near my home, the advisory is to "cancel prolonged and heavy exertion outdoor activities; limit other outdoor activities to bare essentials." Actually that's not really true. At 1000 ug/m3, the advisory is to "Remain indoors and keep activities low." So, we've just crept over the 'very unhealthy' to 'hazardous' barrier.

I guess I shouldn't do any housework either. In fact, keeping my activity level low may just mean lying in front of the TV watching the latest James Bond movie: Casino Royale.