This is my blog.

*VERY PHOTO HEAVY*

I didn't get to spend as much time with the nerds as I wanted because this is the busiest season for me in terms of real life work - but amidst all the hustle and bustle, I was able to head down to IEF for 2 days.

But first:
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A very sleepy Canadian and German in my livingroom...

Well, it's not just yet, I have about 3 months before I fly back to Jersey to see kids I graduated with back in 1999. However, I realize that I no longer have my 18 year old body and have taken initiative to get it back: got myself a personal trainer for the next 3 months.

Currently, as of 8/26/2009, I'm a little pudgeball at around 62kg (136lbs) and standing at 162cm (5'3)

Yes, I know, I'm pretty gross.

But I figure I'll post my stats here so that I can humble myself, (embarrass myself?) to keep motivation to do this.

Target goal: to lose at least 12kg (26lbs) of fat and gain some muscle. I can't do much about the height, I'm afraid.

I want to be about 52kg (115lbs) with more muscle weight. According to my trainer, my arms strength is just about average but my legs are weaker than the rest of my body, possibly why my knees always pop and hurt.

Since the exercise part is gonna be taken care of, now I need to change my eating habits. Anyone have any advice as to what kinds of foods I should eat? What can I make for dinner that would be good for after my workout? (Jamie's doing this with me too - so it'll be good for me to cook for the two of us) I'm looking for something that's pretty easy to make.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated ^^

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I know, I know, it's still August. The air is still thick with humidity and girls are still in short shorts and high heels. However, now that the application season is getting into full swing and my students are all scurrying to get their last minute meetings in before they leave for the States/Canada/Europe, the back-to-school feel (that will never ever leave me, not matter how many years out of school I become) is creeping up on me.

Shaun (d.Apollo) left Seoul a few weeks back. Jamie and I are getting ready to move into our new apartment in less than 2 weeks. Between cleaning, packing, working and breathing... it dawned on me. Summer of 2009 is now over.

I can almost vividly remember each summer since I've graduated undergrad. Each summer had it's own flavor; from summer camps to working retail to late night clubbing, each had it's own interests and adventures. 2009 was filled with whiskey and kpop, mud and rain. And of course, more self reflection.

Not sure what I'm getting at, but to all of you heading back to school this fall, good luck! May you enjoy the last few weeks left before the new school year.

Bonus Pictures: Out with a few nerds...

MMMMMMMM. SOOOOO. GOOOOOOD.



Just as the title states, we went to this restaurant called Brazilia that serves unlimited steak. Our reservation was for 7:30pm on July 30th but due to a series of mishaps (rather, due to *SOMEONE* not having a phone or knowing how to walk straight for 5 mins) we didn't end up eating until 8:20. heh.

Anyways, less talk, more steak and pictures. Introducing, the carnivores + Artosis.


From left to right: HonestTea, ilikestarcraft, Manifesto7, MrHoon, Sea, lilsusie, MidiaN, d.Apollo and Mr. Veggieman (Artosis)


I think this was my 5th steak. I ate the first few too fast to even bother taking pictures of them.


d.Apollo, C&C World Champion, struggling to break D on ICCup.


HonestTea in a state of meat-induced bliss.


Mr. Hoon, making people slightly uncomfortable.


Five, count 'em FIVE steaks.

After stuffing our faces with meat, meat and more meat, we headed off to a somewhat traditional Korean bar for drinks.


Standing around, waiting for a seat


Translators, UNITE!


Hmm, don't know what to say about this one..


Grandpa Mani explaining the meaning of life to HT



As the night wore on, ils had to go early since he needed to leave for the states (He should be almost there by now!) and a few of us were too tired from the night before (damn, whiskey) so we left early.


Three geeks and a chicken

I love love love meeting TLers, in all seriousness. I have to admit, sometimes it gets annoying because I feel that I need to translate things and show people around all the time, but this time around - most of us were Korean speakers anyways~! <3 had a marvelous evening (and I'm still full...)

Since the pro teams are on break now and most of the players have off I was finally able to get Sea out from the abyss that is Mokdong. His family actually lives in the eastern part of Seoul, so he was able to come out to Kangnam, where we usually hang out.

In the pouring rain, Jamie, Shaun and Dan went out to meet up with Bosung at the subway exit around 7pm while I waited for them at the restaurant - having gone straight there from work.

Here's us at our favorite meat joint, enjoying our first shot of soju of the night.



After dinner at the meat place (Main) it's a given that we will expand to our natural expansion - a bar called Dean 1998 (where everyone knows your name). I apologize in advance if I look extra drunk, had a BAD day at work and started drinking quite early -____-

There's not much to say about this evening, I suppose so... here's just a bunch of pictures.

At Dean~


Two handsome Terrans (one more gosu than the other...)


A certain PuertoRican came by to visit


Jamie and I, part time workers of Dean (helping them by drinking all their whiskey...)




Not sure what we were writing but, utilizing any means of communication between the English speakers and our native Korean progamer.






By this point in the night, we all needed to go home (some more drunk than others *ahem*) and we called it a night.


Had a great time, and was very surprised how well Bosung held his own in conversation with everyone. He kept on stating how he was still amazed at the fact that people outside of Korea followed the Korean SC scene so closely. Very nice guy, very sociable. We all left around 1am. The rain had finally stopped (for a few hours anyway) and we all parted ways. Another good night.

Aaaaaah, mudfest. Unfortunately, the weekend was rainy and .. well, rainy the whole time that I didn't get a chance to go on any rides or anything but it was still a good time.

There is a festival each year in a small beach town called Boryeong (about 2 hours from Seoul) called Mudfest.


Mudfest Character Icons

Upon arriving:





The sky was dreary and bleak. I was sad. Because of work, I ended up arriving a lot later than everyone else and apparently I missed out on a lot of fun Still, there were fireworks amidst the rain:



while we rain around in search of shelter and umbrellas. There were a ton of people in the streets, already drunk from that day's festivities. Due to the rain, we ended up going back to our room early with a bottle of whiskey in hand to play card games.



Shaun and Tom ran off somewhere to drink and I think they eventually made it back in the middle of the night because they were there in the morning.

Sunday afternoon - the weather was still hazy.



But that didnt keep us from having fun!





(PS. It's quite difficult to take pictures when there is mud all over one's hands.)





Shortly after hanging out on the beach, kicking around a soccer ball, etc. we all "washed" ourselves off in the ocean. Turned out that we didn't even need to get into the ocean, however, because it started to rain again. -___-

We got back, showered, rested and then went out again to walk around a bit. Everyone went their separate ways for a few hours as our train didn't leave until 9:25pm.


Quality drinks and tats, obv


Hooray, Engrish!


One last group picture before departing~

We all met up again around 7ish, took the village bus back to the train station - and walked around E-mart (Korean version of Walmart) to kill some time until 9, and I think the moment we got on our train, everyone passed out until we arrived back in Seoul around 12:10am.

Overall, it was another great weekend. <3

Ok, I lied. I DID have some booze. But at least I didn't get blitheringly drunk. ^^

Sunday, July 5th.

Shaun has been here a month now, and honestly, I think I've had an alcoholic beverage every single day in the last month. It's taking a toll on me: I'm tired everyday, have no energy to go to the gym after work, eating in the middle of the night (due to the drinking), and the 4kgs I lost in May are creeping back. Most of my "hanging out with Shaun and Jamie" stories take place between the hours of 7pm and 5am...

However! This past Sunday we were able to hang out like normal people DURING THE DAY! There was a Filipino Day festival at the park by the Han River so we decided to head out there and check it out. It was 31C (88F) and the sun was blaring (that plus the humidity.. I'm not sure what it actually felt like. Oh, wait, I know. It felt like MELTING). Although we were all hung over from the night before, I was determined to utilize this day the best I could.

At 1:30pm we headed out to the park. There was a show that showcased each region of the Philippines and they all did their own traditional dance presentations. Afterwards, they invited people to come up on stage and dance too.





Later, we took pictures with the presenters. I have no idea how they were not melting in their costumes.



After that was over, we sat around in the shade next to the river until the bridge water show started. Shaun, me and another English friend named Tom headed towards the bridge in hopes to get wet by the water. (We didn't, btw)


The water show off Banpo Bridge. In the evenings, they add colored lights too. ^^




Under the bridge they have a pathway for bikers and walkers


Here's Jamie with his fashionable pink bag.

They had boats by the river but apparently that day it was only open to some children's class so we couldn't enjoy them. We ended up walking across the bridge into a district called Itaewon.

Itaewon is normally disgusting in the evenings. It's like, once the sun goes down, every scum of the earth who were shunned from their respective countries come out into the street of Itaewon. However, during the day, it was quite nice. We went for some Thai food for dinner and then headed to a cute tropical bar called Bungalow. This bar requires you to take your shoes off because they have sand rooms with swings and hammocks. We lazed our day there, just talking about this and that and then we headed home around 8pm.


Outside of Bungalow

When we got back to our apartment, Tom left for his home (which is about an hour south of Seoul) and Shaun - thanks to Rekrul - got himself an invite to go out to a booking club with Spunky, so Jamie and I were able to enjoy a quiet evening to ourselves, watching some DVDs, drinking some wine, and cooling off in the AC.

It was a good day.

(This blog was inspired by Mani)

Bonus:

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Somehow Shaun got a store up and running during that one month he's been here... kekeke

Just want to preface this post by saying that drinking on a workday = BAD.

Still, I can't seem to stay away. Following the week we got back from Busan, beer or whiskey was consumed just about every night. Usually, if we aren't out in Kangnam (a somewhat trendy, younger area with tons of bars and eateries) we can be found sitting with pitchers of beer in the apartment with the boys playing either Starcraft or Poker on their respective computers.

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There was one work night where Jamie and Shaun decided to go out to the hookah bar near our place. Trying to be a good corporate worker, I declined their invitation to go drinking yet somehow, ended up there around 1am anyway. Our small group of 3 became 9 and a couple of bottles of rum and whiskey later, we found ourselves on a back street near the bar. They had this machine where you could test out how hard you punch and of course, we all had to try it out.


the Europeans - ToTMidiaN, RotterdaM, d.Apollo, ToD


the Americans - Artosis, Matt (Tasteless' old roommate), me, Tasteless, Amarisse


RotterdaM and the punching bag machine thing.

Shaun decided to take a stab at it and I think he eventually hurt his hand. Upon finding out that I hit the bag harder than he did, he immediately got down and did some push-ups.


Shaun after punching the thingie



In the end, it didnt matter because he was still able to get the attention of two girls who were passing by.



By then it was around 5am and we were all pleasantly drunk and ready to head home. Well, I was anyway being that I had to be at work in 4 hours. On our way home, we needed to walk through the underground subway station. I'm not sure why this happened, but Shaun suddenly had the urge to kick off one of his shoes... getting it caught up on an advertisement billboard. Sigh. To try and hit the shoe off the advert, Jamie decided to throw the other one.. getting that one stuck as well.



We spent a good hour or so trying to find someone to help us get the shoes down. By this point of the night, I was pretty drunk and grouchy, yet was the only one who could translate for our poor Brit.


Shoeless Shaun - walking down to find a security guy to help us

Eventually they got the shoes (I ran off after I contacted the first security guy - It was 7am by then and the sun was coming up) but ToD wound up getting a nasty bruise from trying to climb up there. I'm glad I can look back on this and laugh about it now, but God knows, at the time, I wanted to kill the kid.

This is a copy and paste of a blog I posted on LP - but figured you guys might get a kick out of it too Just letting you know how my summer is going...

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Hello all.

This is my first actual post on LP - after much lurking here and there.

I apologize that there is not much poker involved in this blog, as I am a terrible player, even with my own personal coach.

I figured that if I was to ever post anything here, it would be something lol-able, and so I will share with you a bit of how my summer is going, especially since I have been spending every single day with liquid poker's own ToTMidiaN (Jamie) and d.Apollo (Shaun).

Before I go into detail of our many adventurous nights, here's a bit of background on me. Unlike these two fine gentlemen, I work a 9-5 job. Rather, it's a 9:30 to 6:30 job, Monday through Saturday. Yes, Saturdays. Considering this, sleep is quite important to me, as is rest and being sober. Since June 8th however, I have been drunk more nights (and mornings) than I'd like to admit. In fact, I think I'm hungover right now as I post this blog.

The first weekend started with a nice gathering with a bunch of Starcraft and Warcraft 3 nerds at a place called Monkey Beach in Apgujeong, Seoul. 'Twas a good way to start off Shaun's arrival in Seoul.


RotterdaM, d.Apollo, me

The very next day, Jamie, Shaun and I decided to head down to Busan for the weekend. (They both woke up at 2:30 in the afternoon while I had been puking all morning at work) Although Busan is clear across the entire country, the bullet train was able to get us there in 2.5 hours.

As soon as we arrived, we hopped into a taxi to meet up with our friend Dave at his friend's new bar opening. There, we learned a nice Korean game that required a bit of finesse and strategy - two things that Shaun was lacking that evening. The objective was simple - to burn as much or little of the napkin on top of the mug without letting the coin drop. Loser has to take shots of soju or down a full beer. Needless to say, Shaun was pretty drunk by the time we decided to change venues.


The said coin and mug game

The second bar was a very western style place, with a dart board and pool table. Being the English guys they are, Jamie and Shaun immediately took to the pool table and started engaging in some friendly 2v2 with local Koreans.


Me and Jamie at the 2nd bar


Setting up for a few games


The Koreans who challenged them - and lost. Twice.

Now, if any of you guys know Shaun, aka "Birder", you would know that he has no shame when picking up "birds". This particular night was no exception. Here is a picture of the bird of choice - a 37 year old math teacher who barely spoke English.



After beers, soju shots, whiskey shots, tequila shots and a big fat rejection from 37 year old bird, we had on our hands a very depressed Shaun. On the walk back to our motel room, Shaun alleviated his disappointment with the ever so famous, Marilyn Monroe.



When he realized that she wasn't going to reciprocate, he promptly put his pants back on and sauntered off to the beach, where he met 5 high school age girls and continued his birdin' journey. It was near 7am by the time we all went back to pass out.

Here's a picture of us the next day, waiting for our train to head back to Seoul.



That was only the first week.

Any chance I can get to get nerds from all around the world to share in some nerd drinking and nerd socializing, I will take on the challenge and make it happen.

Last night, what started out as a small gathering of Starcraft aficionados ended up becoming a bit more than that. From having a Swede down an entire bottle of soju to having broken on Korean's hookah cherry... it was a nice night enjoyed by all.

Whenever I meet up with new people and want to take them out for dinner, this is the standard build order we follow.

We meet at Kangnam Station, exit 6 at 7pm. This is a very common meeting place and so there's almost always a slew of people standing around, waiting for their friends. Luckily, d.Apollo was wearing a bright pink shirt, making it easy for our fellow TLers to find us right away.

At around 7:30 we walk down towards this meat joint Jamie and I go to often - so often, in fact, that they greet us with a smile and basically know what we order each time. Here, we shared a scrumptious meal of beef, soju and beer. Around 8:30ish, we are joined by Artosis and Tasteless.

Here we are, after the dinner: Starting from pink shirt d.Apollo, behind him is Midian, Tasteless, PH (hidden behind Midian's head), SOCKS! (His Swedish name sounds like the Korean word for socks.. heh), David (no ID, and sitting behind me on the right), me, lastas (the hook up guy!), Artosis and ilikestarcraft.




Midian, Tasteless, PH, David, SOCKS


Lastas, ilikestarcraft, Artosis, d.Apollo and me


Jersey Representing!!


After dinner, (and by then we were all pleasantly buzzed) a few of the guys headed to the convenience store to get more beer and soju.

Outside the GS25








PH bet lastas 10,000 won to down an entire bottle of soju. To our surprise, he DID (I'm sure there was a bit of Swedish pride as well, that needed to be kept) Here he is with his empty bottle ^^



Next stop is almost always to Rainbow, the hookah bar that we frequently visit.

Things got a bit more sloppy here, but I guess that's what we expecting after sharing two hookahs and a bunch of buckets of alcohol.

Behold! The bucket! (The first of many)










I had to leave around midnight due to being a working woman. God only knows how those boys got back to their homes ^^ but all in all, had a great time meeting TLers and knowing that this amazing game is the link between nerds from all parts of the world.

I hope you guys had a good time too - and PH, hope you made it back to the states alright (especially in this rain). Enjoy your stay in Seoul and hope we can all cross paths again.