Oh how I love Korea!

I thought that title might catch the eye of the few who read this once in a while. Because I don't often say anything positive about Korea. But hey, I don't often say anything positive about Canada either. I bitch about them cuz I want them to be better. Only love can lead to true anger. I'm not the smartest guy to ever write THAT.

So I must love Korea cuz it makes me soooo angry sometimes! Like the other day. I had just returned to Korea from Thailand and I was out on a walk to the local Lotte Mart to pick up some groceries. It's about a 2 Km. walk through rice fields and gardens. It's actually very pleasant. And I was soaking in the rural odours and sounds and thinking of how many much worse places there are where a guy could live. I even took a video with my brand spanking new camera. The country in Korea really is nice! Trees and greenery don't come to mind when the average person thinks of Korea but with all the rain and heat they had had, things had been growing while I was away!

It was a hot, sunny day but not quite as humid as usual. The smell of the rice roasting in the fields mixed with fertilizer and car exhaust to make the not so unpleasant signiture Korean countryside summer musk. It gave me a somewhat nostalgic feeling of being home.

I remember when I went to Thunder Bay for university. I hated it. For 7 years I hated it. Then I started to like it. Just before I left, I had finally grown accustomed to it. Thunder Bay has its own grain elevator/Lake Superior/car exhaust musk that is not unlike the Korean countryside's. Well I've been in Korea for 7 years now. I have hated it for long enough I guess. I'm finally accustomed to it.

I was feeling rather positive. I really have to be careful about that. I should know better. Just as I was leaving the trail and crossing the street that leads to Lotte Mart I saw a mother and her little boy who was riding a bicycle. The little boy saw me and informed his mother, "Omma, waegook saram imnida." This means, "Mom, here comes a foreigner." I'm positive the kid wasn't even of school age.

I tried not to let this spoil my good mood because it's happened countless times. I was even impressed that the kid didn't say, "Migook Saram imnida," which means an American person is coming. Not so long ago in Korea, THAT is what all the kids used to say. Baby steps.

And before we leave the topic, yesterday while walking past the soccer field at HUFS where I work I was watching the little kindergarten kids playing soccer. It's just incredibly cute. They all had on their colourful uniforms with extra large shorts and soccer cleats. The whole shebang. I couldn't help but smile. And while doing so I looked at a little girl on the sidelines. She gave me a big, pigtailly smile back. She then pointed at me and turned to her teacher to say something, but didn't. Then she looked back at me and said, "HELLO!" I literally sang, "HELLO!" back to her.

Goes to show that HUFS kids are just a bit further along. One of the reasons I like working there I suppose.

So I got to Lotte Mart and ANOTHER girl said hello to me. THIS time my response differed, however. I was looking at MP3 players and saw her approaching with her boyfriend. Or possibly just a male friend she WANTED to be her boyfriend. At any rate she was quite keen on the idea of impressing him with her humour. So as she approached she said, in Korean, "There's my friend over there," and proceeded to walk up to me, give a syruppy sweet smile and say, "HELLO."

This is a phenomenon I have explained before on the blog. It's exactly the same thing as a person driving by a field of cows and mooing out the window. If one of them looked up and mooed back, it would be hilarious, right? Well probably a hundred times in Korea people, (usually younger people but not always), who are with at least one other friend, NEVER alone, have said hello to me and laughed uproariously when I said hello in return. The little 3-year-old soccer girl didn't laugh when I said hello to her! She had more maturity than that.

But here was a high school aged chick trying to impress a boy by having a laugh at the foreigner's expense. I wasn't about to oblige. I have learned a trick that squelches the joke quite effectively. When a Korean tells a joke that bombs, (or even if what they said WAS funny but someone wants to appear funnier by insulting them), the response will be something like, "That isn't funny." or "There's a cold wind here." or "I'm feeling chilly." or "I have goosebumps." I have learned how to say these things in Korean. So I pierced a hole right through the girl, (just with my eyes), and said, "Jaimee eopsoyo." It literally means "not interesting" but it tells you a great deal about the Korean culture and its relatively recently acquired appreciation of humour when you realize that they don't even have a word that means "funny". This also contributes to their inability to distinguish between the English words "fun" and "funny". But if you talk to Koreans in English you'd think they were laughing their asses off all the time! "We do funny excise and play game in David class. David is funny teacher." Little do they know how funny I really am. Hoo hoo ha ha.

Back to Lotte Mart. The girl was shocked. The boyfriend gave her a look that seemed to mean, "That's what you get for assuming he can't understand you." or at least, "Oh well. You lost THAT battle of wits." Then they both speedwalked the hell out of there. I hope he realizes that he's too good for her. lol

I wish I had learned that trick a long time ago. But better late than never I guess. Now I practically look forward to little bastards playing the ubiquitous "hello" joke on me. The "not interesting" response hasn't yet failed to trump it. Always trying to improve Korea... even if it's one "Jaimee eopsoyo" at a time. I really must love this country!

One thing's for sure: I will never moo out a car window at a cow again. I feel for those poor cows. Me and Gary Lawson. (Far Side) Not enough to stop eating them... but I feel for the cows.

If that wasn't enough to make me fully aware that the holidays were over, the next day was Monday. Work! But we had a meeting before work. I had to go in earlier than usual. I thought I might have seen a bus waiting across the street at the stop. So I made sure no cars were coming and crossed on a red light. Unfortunately, (VERY unfortunately), the bus was the wrong one for me and I missed it anyway. So I sat down on the bench to wait and this Korean woman comes over to me. She was out excercising and her clothes and hair were wet with sweat and rain from the quick rain shower a few minutes before. I'd say she was in her mid twenties. "You KNOW red means stop don't you? Don't you know that law?"

I looked up at her angry face and said, "So you jaywalked right over to tell me that?" She really HAD gone diagonally right through the same intersection. I saw her. Either she ignored the question or didn't know what "jaywalked" meant but she still figured she had the high ground. "You'd better not cross the street during red lights."

I said, "Hey, when in Rome do as the Romans do." She probably didn't understand that and kept at me. "This is VERY dangerous. You'd better be careful." Now she wasn't angry at me but concerned for me. Right.

The intersection is one of so many in Korea where the light timing is ridiculous. There has been a lot of development in Yangju and just past the intersection there is a huge apartment complex. Nobody lives there but they thought they should time the lights optimistically. So generally I DO wait for the walk signal but while waiting I see one or two cars go through towards the apartments and ten pedestrians cross the crosswalk because, (and rightfully so), they aren't going to wait 3 minutes for some stupidly timed light. Maybe if there weren't so many silly lights like this Koreans might obey traffic lights? Ummmm... nah.

So I say, "So Koreans always wait for the lights?" She replies that she agrees and this is something she really hates about her people. Then she says, "So do you need any help? You look like you need help." I'm not sure what that meant but I'm sure she was trying to turn this accosting into something more like a polite gesture. Telling me I needed help was accomplishing the opposite.

"No thanks. I don't need your help." She was upset. "Oh so you KNOW every bus and every number? Where are you going?" Another pretty rude question. I told her I was going to the subway station and I know which buses to take. Just then bus 31 came and she asked me where it goes. "It doesn't go where I'm going." I replied.

"Okay, well I just thought I'd try to help out. Have a good day." she said. "Yeah, you too." I said.

It wouldn't be blogworthy if this was over. Two days later it was Itaewon Pool League night. I was at the subway station around 5 PM and no sooner did I step onto the platform when the woman in front of me turned around and said, "You know who I am don't you?" It took a few seconds because she had make-up on and wasn't wet. "Oh, yes I know who you are." I took my Ipod earphones out but kept them in either hand hoping she could take a hint. She couldn't.

"Where are you going?" "Oh I'm going to play pool." "Are you good at it?" "Sometimes good, sometimes not so good." "Most Koreans aren't very good even though we have lots of water." She had made the common mistake of thinking "swimming" pool when I said pool. Koreans all learn the word "pocketball" and think we English speakers use it. But she was going on and on defending Koreans' inability to swim. I had to interrupt her to explain that the "Konglish" word "pocketball" is what I had meant. She didn't like the word "Konglish" and started in on me about how long I've been in Korea and if I speak the language. I said I didn't speak it very well so she asks me which language I thought was harder to learn, Korean or English. She might as well have said that I was a dummy to have been here so long without learning the language and that even though she had made a mistake, at least she speaks English better than I speak Korean. She even made mention of my walking across the street on a red light. AGAIN! And asked what I would do if I died in Korea.

I sighed, dropped my earphones and tried to explain the "when in Rome" cliche. I even explained to her that I had owned a motorbike in Korea for two years and despite wanting to drive it like a Canadian, other motorist were constantly honking at me and motioning for me to ride on the sidewalk and between cars. Her response was, "So if I'm in America I should have lots of sex and do drugs?" Yeah, cuz that's all they do in America. She wasn't scoring any points.

She then asked, "How do you think about Koreans?" I answered that I really didn't like Koreans who were rude and argumentative. She launched into another defence which ended with, "You really don't like Koreans do you?" I said, "It's not that I don't like Koreans, it's that I don't like YOU. Please go away." She started blabbing some more so I said, "I have a better idea. You stay here and I'LL go away." So I move like 5 cars down the platform.

STILL not over. While riding the train I looked up at the sliding door that separates the cars and thought I saw her peeking through. I opened my phone and sent my friend, and captain of our pool team, Mr. Woo, a text saying that I thought I had a stalker. I was in the middle of that message when she came up to me and smilingly dropped a note on my lap. It was to the "good teacher".

In the note she explained that she just wanted to practice her English and appologized if she had made me feel weird. She had been spoiled by her parents. She explained that not ALL Korean people are rude and proceeded to warn me one last time about the dangers of disobeying crosswalk signals.

I haven't seen her since but have no doubt that I will bump into her again. Maybe if you look closely at the video you might be able to spot her following me down the path to Lotte Mart. Geez I hope not!

Survivor Sandwiches

I had a summer job at a military museum one year during my lengthy education at Lakehead U. The guy in charge was a really cool guy named Myles. He was a corporal and his wife got promoted before him to captain. The reason I mention this to you is because his wife probably broke the news to him something like this: Hey, honey, I'm gonna be making more money so we can move into that new house we've been looking at. I'm being promoted to captain and I WILL outrank you but as Colonel Nathan R. Jessup says, "If you haven't gotten a blowjob from a superior officer, well you're just letting the best in life pass you by."

I don't want to give away Canadian military secrets but this is what is called the "sandwich". The meat in the sandwich is the bad news and you cover it up with two slices of good news bread so that it'll go down more easily. Myles taught me that. And it has served me well in my teaching career. I think if you are in just about any position of authority, (or perceived authority), there will be occasions where you would be well served to make a few sandwiches. Like me: "You have a really great attendance record! You're never late. Your overall average in my class is 10% so you are going to fail. You aren't equipped with the intellectual wherewithal to learn a second language and I have no idea why you bothered to take this class or how you managed to get the admission department to allow you to take it. Hey by the way, that's a really nice shirt you're wearing today!"

See? Works like a charm! I think life throws sandwiches at us now and then. Like today. It's my last real day of holidays. That's the meat. But the weather is cooling off and Survivor China and NFL football are both just around the corner. That's some nice bread. In fact when I got back to my beloved computer after using the crap you get in most of the internet cafes in Pattaya, I didn't plan a lesson or look at my class schedule. I checked out the 16 contestants on Survivor China. Quite a crop this time! I'm now going to give them all my VERY preliminary evaluations in sandwich form. I am gonna do this because it'll be cool to look back and see how I did. I could be totally wrong or I could be right. We'll see if I should go buy a chrystal ball.

Aaron the surfer- Likes blunt, honest people. I wish everyone were honest and blunt so I like that. Stuck up asshole. He thinks he's all that and baloney sandwich. How's that for blunt? He wants to be a leader, thinks possibly that surfing qualifies him for that position, but he doesn't want others to know he wants to lead cuz that's suicide on Survivor. No problem with lying, cheating and stealing. I hate this guy and hope he gets Kung Fu ed by a Shao Ling monk. But he might do well if he hooks up with some blunt, honest people like Courtney, Jaime and/or Denise.

Amanda the hiker- Almost a Canadian! Camps every weekend and has been to China twice. The first, (but maybe the best), of the "slash model" contestants. Evidently Survivor thought more about beauty than race this time. Thinks it's important to have an alliance in the beginning with an old, loyal person. She could get screwed this way especially if she allies with Dave or Jean-Rob. Chicken or Lunch Lady Denise might be better for her. She's more than just good looking. She's a true adventurer and should go far.

Ashley the Diva- Posed for Playboy. She says, "No tapping out," but she will get knocked out. She's rich and famous already and that makes her an obvious target. She better hope her team wins the first immunity challenge or she'll be first to suffer a three count. Posed for Playboy.

Chicken the farmer- Rudy-like popularity here. He'll make plenty of friends with his downhome wisdom and he'll get lots of alliance offers. He's too good to win. He's already satisfied just with making it on the show. Makes a good living so isn't hungry enough although without three squares a day he'll likely have more physical hunger than most. He'll probably deserve to win but won't. But I always like the farmers. I like his four F's: friends, family, fun, food.

Courtney the lame-o- Very honest. Seems like her life motto might be "whatever!" Not ready for reality TV. Or reality. China is as real as it gets. Has no idea what she's in for. Thinks there might be egg on spoon or three-legged races. Admits she's not strong, not athletic, will suffer from the heat, will cry a lot, has a big mouth that will get her into trouble. Strong candidate for 16th place if Ashley's team doesn't lose the first immunity challenge. Could extend her stay by staying out of arguments and allying with Aaron.

Dave the cereal box psychologist- Has been to China and likes the outdoors. Another of the "slash models". Thinks he's Dr. Phil. Says he deals with conflicts and solves problems well. Really chicks don't listen to his psychobabble, they're too busy looking at him. Could avoid an early exit by hooking up with the young and stupid who mistake his bullshit for pearls of wisdom.

Denise the lunchbuster- Tomboy. Tough. Survived hard times. Looks like every lunch lady I've known. Says she likes sharp objects but isn't one herself. I think she has a temper and could have a big blow-up with, for example, Courtney or Jaime. Will score points with her accent. Seems honest and real.

Erik the Christian rocker- Very pretty. In a band. You KNOW he gets more ass than a toilet seat. BUT, being a Christian he probably wastes it. He seems WAY too nice. His band will get much more popular because of this so he doesn't need the money. He's too soft. WILL get very hungry. He could quit, get kicked off for shaggin', or win the whole dang thing. He and Leslie could lead a Christian alliance. Christians don't fare too well in China though...

Frosti the snowcaulk?- Nobody but Heather and Mike will get that nickname. Well travelled. Good attitude. No dummy. He's young and may be naiive enough to get screwed by one of the bad guys. Probably a huge threat in physical challenges. This should be a plus but he might get voted off because of it. But if he's smart he'll only give 70-80%. Could win if he's got half a brain.

Jaime the rack- Camps a lot. Outdoorsy. Great tits! Says she wants to test her mental ability but will fail that test. Wants to win Miss Congeniality. Unfortunately Survivor doesn't have that prize. I think she has a temper and she talks too much. Could be fun to see the "nice" mask fall off if her looks, (tits), don't get her exactly what she wants. I'll be sad when they, I mean she get voted off.

James the undertaker- Sounds and looks dangerous. Has lots of Chinese friends from his work in bars. He's a loner and probably doesn't have a lot of mojo to work. Has Chinese friends, works in bars, buries people. Can you say Shinjuku? How bout Triads? I knew you could. If he doesn't win, maybe some people literally DON'T survive.

Jean-Rob the gambler- Big mental edge. Nobody will know what he's thinking. Impossible to trust. Used to air conditioned casinos and hotels. Out of shape. No physical value. He wants to use early days to evaluate others and find their "tells" then adapt to them. Probly won't last till the "adapt" stage. May be the first survivor voted off because of MENTAL threat. Very tall.

Leslie the zealot- Into fitness, sent 11 applications to Survivor, people person. I have a feeling she'll get on a lot of nerves pushing Jesus. Says she has a "dependance on God." You can't depend on God to get you the million. Seems very determined. Could lead a strong Christian alliance.

Peih-Gee the jeweller- Likes travel. Dancer. Hot bod. "Tiger raised in captivity released into the wild." Best quote of the preview. Quit smoking and drinking for the show. Exercised a lot. Watched previous seasons. But, her friends immediately thought she'd be the bitch when they found out she'd be on Survivor. She'll face a strong test to refrain from "bitching out" with this cast. She's very prepared and has home field advantage. I wanna do some things to her that ain't rated Peih-Gee if you know what I'm saying... My early favourite.

Sherea the volcano- Loves China, ready for adventure and SAYS she has great social skills. Says she suffered a great deal when HER MOTHER survived breast cancer. Claiming an ancestor's suffering as her own. Hmmm. Your Momma ain't the one in China Sherea. I doubt her 4th grade social skills will be enough to win the day. Seems very nice but her 4th graders probably don't oppose her the way the other survivors will. I called her the volcano cuz I think she could explode into the biggest beatch on the show. She doesn't trust anyone till they earn her trust. This could cost her. But it might help her too. There are some people not to be trusted. She may end up being a sweetheart. We'll see.

Todd the token- Positive. People person. Huge Survivor fan. A flight attendant? Never would have guessed. What would Survivor be without homosexuality? Gay Mormon is interesting though. Todd and Jaime seem to be a hyperpositive match made in Heaven. I think Dave and Jean-Rob will be licking their chops to ally with them then screw them. But he'll remain positive when he gets voted off. Very likeable though. Could go far if he is smart enough to avoid being BRAINLESSLY positive.

And there you have it. Next entry will be my football prognostications. Ha ha. No, not really. So in summation: Go Chicken, Amanda and Peih-Gee, Go home Ashley, Aaron and Dave. Watch out for: Frosti and James.

The tribe has spoken.

I Made it Back

I'm home from Thailand. The trip was murder as usual. Left Thailand at 12:30 and got to Korea around 6 AM. Didn't sleep a wink. Even on the luxury bus to Ui Jung Boo I couldn't sleep. Got home around 8:30 I think and my house was a holy mess! I guess it had rained a lot while I was gone cuz the house was full of mold. But there was also DUST everywhere. How the hell does that happen?

So before hitting my bed with all my comfy pillows I missed so much I washed the floors, did some dishes that had beards on them, and, (NOOOOOO!!!), killed some ants. They're back.

I also flashed up the old computer. It too has suffered from the month I was away I think. I got some weird problems. Like when I went to a site where I could type as soon as I hit a key it was freezing. Couldn't use the mouse or the keyboard. But that problem seems to be slowly going away. As you can see. Could the humidity have caused that? I did some computer cleaning and reset the keyboard drivers but I really think it was just a month of sitting that caused the problem.

But now I can do another entry. Where to begin...

The trip was relatively, (for me), low on disaster. Apart from being chased by a pack of wild dogs... TWICE, getting dinged for 1000 baht because I overstayed two days, (really they stamped my passport for 28 days even though they knew I was staying 30), almost getting bit by a snake while looking for Ray's ball in the rough, and shooting my worst round of golf on the day of the tourney it was a lovely vacation. Spent way more than planned but I got a new set of clubs and a cool new camera.

The camera has a few problems but I think I'll iron them out soon. I can't seem to take pictures in focus even with the thing on auto. So I may have to learn how to focus manually. The movies are all in focus but they come out all grainy when I watch them on the computer. And a lot of the settings seem to be bogus. Taking a picture through glass doesn't seem to work better on the "through glass" setting for instance. But I hope to experiment and improve as I go along.

Yes, I did get chased by a pack of dogs. They live just beside a fairly busy street in Pattaya called 3rd Road. The driving range is just past where the dogs hang out. And I don't know how I managed to get past them but I went fishing at a fishing pond down their road. I only caught a couple of small ones but some people there were landing big ones. The guy beside me got a bite and his pole went into the water and water skied behind the fish for a while before sinking out of sight. That was funny. But coming back from the fishing hole I had to go out to 3rd road past a field. I saw a dog in the field and said hello as he walked closer to me. Then two more and two more and two more came out of nowhere. Pretty soon there were like 20 and they were all growling and showing their teeth. I started running. Luckily I was pretty close to 3rd road before they organized their attack. And a guy on a moped saw them chasing me and cut them off, revved his engine and scared them away. I don't know how I managed to get TO the fishing hole past their field. They would have eaten me up if I ran AWAY from 3rd road.

Then a few days later I was walking back from the driving range and the same thing happened. One then two more then two more then two more. I had my clubs with me so could have defended myself but I just found an opening and ran across the road to the other side. Another falang was walking behind me and he did the same thing. "Falang" means foreigner. They weren't old dogs either. They weren't puppies but they were like teenagers I guess. Bored teenagers who aren't enrolled in any sports and don't have doggy Playstation to keep them busy. But I didn't get bit.

I would rather get bit by a dog than the snake I nearly stomped on at Kow Kiau golf course. I don't know if it was poisonous but it had about a foot of its body off the ground and it was swaying like a python. I was looking along a nice trimmed bush, (something there is a lot of in Pattaya : ) but I was pretty sure Ray's shot went past the bush into the unmanicured rough. I was just lifting my leg to hop over the nice shrubbery and into the rough stuff when I saw the snake. Lucky I looked before I leapt. Ray took a lost ball penalty. And didn't feel as bad about it as one normally does.

I saw a ton of monkeys on the Monkey Course where we had our best ball tourney. I'm told they like to go through pockets in golf bags and take stuff so we didn't let them get too close. Even saw an elephant on the way home from golf one day. A logging elephant I think. No crocs though. Didn't get my hand bit off like Chubs from Happy Gilmore.

I managed to get two birdies, (not including the ones in the best ball tournament), and a whole pile of pars. My best round was 45/43 on Thai Navy course. 6 pars and a birdie there. And a triple on both the front and the back. About a 40 foot chip and run for the bird too. It was sweet!

I didn't get to fire a fully automatic weapon like the M 16's the have in Cambodia but shot a couple handguns. I started with the .44 and did okay. All my shots missed low and right so I think the site was off a bit. I took 12 shots with that. Then I tried a Gloc. What a tough gun to shoot that is! I couldn't hit the broad side of the barn with it. But then I tried the .22 to see if I still had the old dead eye. I like .22's. And even though they moved the target back so I couldn't even see the holes I was making, when they reeled the target in the holes were all in the right places. In the pic the big holes are from the Gloc and the little ones are the .22.

I DID get the new camera into the water and took some pics of fish with it but they're all blurry. That was disappointing. Still not bad though.

I went to the go-cart track with Pen, the accountant at Gordon's bar. We had a fun time. Pen had no licence so she went for a nice Sunday drive. I was smoking around the track. Had a couple of really good laps. Pen and I were both dirty afterwards. The carts are pretty close to the ground. We both had oil or rubber on our pants after we left. But it was worth it.

I spent a whole day at the Crocodile Park again. I went last year but my camera battery died so I couldn't get all the pics I wanted. I went with the new camera this year and wouldn't you know it, the battery died after only a few pictures again. I DID get a pic of the little tigress I fed last year. She has doubled in size. Don't think she remembered me though. But the elephants did. I fed them a huge pile of bananas. The little baby elephants came right up to me and said hello with their trunks. They're so cute! I like the big ones too. Elephants never forget. And I must have fed 10 bowls of food to the giant catfish. I still want to get a movie of those babies. They are monstrous!

I went to the Ripley's Believe it or not museum. Ennnnhhhh... Not bad not great.

I went to Underwater World. They have lots of rays, tortoises, sharks, huge groupers and cod, tuna and even some river otters. They were my fave. But I didn't get pictures because the camera died. They had a tank where you could touch a stingray as it swam by. And I did. A few times. Croikey that was fun mate! Sorry.


Caught a little Muai Thai action. Even went toe to toe with a couple practitioners myself. Afterwards I felt a little like visiting a general practitioner I'll tell you hwat. Those boys are in unbelievable shape to do what they do in the heat they do it in. Just watching them makes me sweat. More. And order another drink.

And I even found a bar that had a really HOT rock band. I spent a lot of time and money there. It was called Climax Bar on Walking Street. I'd recommend it.

I DIDN'T spend, (waste), a second on the beach. Well, I did walk there at sunset and after hours but no suntanning for me. Not even swimming. I was too busy doing better stuff. And I didn't go to a single temple. Seen enough.

Out of the whole month there was ONE day I spent in the hotel room. That was the day after I discovered Climax Bar. I think I was doing shots with the band. Ugh.

Met a lot of new friends and caught up with some old ones. In both senses. Ar ar. I ate some spectacular food. Only had a few bad meals. And had a really great time. These are just some of the pics. And finally, I had to throw in a little porn.

Isn't she little? Porn? Cute as a button though. That's Pen with her. Porn was our waitress for breakfast before the go carts. Ha ha ha.

A few more pics

I made another major purchase. It was kind of spooky how it worked out. I was using my old camera to take some pics down at the beach and it just jammed. The lens can't go all the way in or out. So now it's completely useless. But I was just around the corner from the place I saw the camera I wanted last year. So I went back and there it was. The shockproof, waterproof Olympus 770 SW. I like it already. So I'm gonna show you some pics from it:

To your left you see the scorecard from my latest round of golf. Just yesterday, (Thurs.). Well the front 9 anyway. I'm "D". Not bad eh? Bogey golf. I'll take it. I golfed with Gord, Mel and Storm. Storm was hilarious. He owns one of the bars across from Memories/Gorkles. He improved a lot on the back nine. I did okay on the back too but had a couple of holes I couldn't finish so don't know my real score. The course was super busy. So we were being rushed by everybody. I absolutely hate that. It's like those assholes who blow their horns in traffic gridlock. Like it's gonna help at all. On my first hole I put my drive into the woods. Not deep though. I could see the ball from the tee. But while we were driving to it I saw a guy from a hole beside us playing a ball from where mine was. I think it was mine cuz I couldn't find mine. But while I was looking the dipshit course marshall told the other guys to hurry up. So I dropped a ball and shot. It went over the green. When I got to it everyone was finished the hole and the guys behind us were firing at the green. So I had to pick up my ball, go to the next hole and wait for not one but TWO groups ahead of us to tee off. Gord was scoring and he gave me an 8. No way I woulda got an 8. Then it happened to me AGAIN! I hit what felt like a really good shot but nobody including my caddy and me, saw it. It just disappeared. And you can't spend a minute looking or you forfeit the hole. Cuz we all had to hurry up and wait. I really HATE golfing like that. But I'm happy with the front nine.

Above are two holes from the course I've golfed most here. It's called Phoenix. I've been there twice this year and did it once last year. Gorgeous eh? Look closely at the mountain in the pic on the right and you can see a huge Buddha carved into it. All I've done so far is golf and drink here. But I ain't complaining. I'm going out again Sunday and then Tuesday I'm entered into a Texas Scramble tournament with Gord, Joe and another guy. Should be a blast.

Below are a couple shots of the beach area. I was testing my new cam's night ability. Boy, you need a steady hand lemme tell ya. The bright lights out on the water are boats. I think they might have casinos on them but I'm not sure. Walking street is a street that's lit up like a Christmas Tree at night. Other than that and its multitude of fish and seafood restaurants, there is really nothing else about Walking Street that could be related to Christ or Christian ethics if you know what I'm saying... Heh heh heh. But I DID find an awesome rock bar called Climax underneath a go-go bar where half naked girls stand outside on a stairway and beckon in foolish men. The band at Climax was superb. I WILL return. It reminded me a lot of Woodstock in Seoul. I promise to get better with the new cam so I can get some really good underwater shots. See you then.