What am I thankful for?

Even though I'm not American and Canadian Thanksgiving was a long time ago, I didn't really sit down, watch football, eat turkey and contemplate the things that make me thankful. Today I watched football, ate other stuff and decided to contemplate what it is that makes me especially thankful this year. As you may know from reading this blog this will be a hard thing for me to do. I'm not one to ramble on about how wonderful life and the world are. But give me a little bit of adversity and I'll blog about that till the cows come home.

Incidentally why are the cows out to begin with? And aren't they technically "cattle?" Who sends their cattle away from home? And what are they homing cattle? Why would they just come home? And, okay, okay, Who let the cows out, moo moo moo moo!

See what I mean? Give me a small opening like a strange turn of phrase and I'll run with it. As long as I can make it sound like a complaint. This could be my calling. I really should be a critic. It really doesn't matter what needs to be criticized, I can do it all. So like all critics Thanksgiving is especially hard for me. Can you imagine Thanksgiving in the home of a famous food critic? That'd be something! Imagine the pressure every year on the person who does the cooking!

Anyway, let's get on with it so I can finish up and leave blog space for another scathing entry about something else. What am I thankful for? I guess I have to say first of all I'm thankful to be working. It's impossible to survive without a job and I really can't complain about my job. Well, I've proven that statement false numerous times in this blog. But all in all I DO like what I do. And the hours are great! In fact after Monday I will just have to do all my marking, grading and attendance recording for the session and I'll be off till March! Pretty sweet. Of course I will be trying to find something to keep me busy in that time and make me some money. I am not planning a vacation during this break. But I still have a pretty sweet job. At times like this I feel like it's worthwhile being away from my country, family and friends, dealing with the crap I deal with, the people conning me and fighting against me every step of the way. Still wish I could bypass all of that but at least I'm working. And I like my job. Not everybody can say that.

I have a pretty good body. I'm sure I couldn't do a Calvin Klein ad but what I mean is I could still do any job out there. I am smart enough to do any thinking job and strong enough to do any labour job. That's a real blessing. Right now I'm doing a job that requires NO strength at all and I'm never intellectually challenged unless it's to figure out what the administration is trying to do to make my life difficult. One of the things they are doing is keeping me trapped in the dorm and that is actually HURTING my health but not to the extent that I can't work. But other than recurrant acid reflux that I will probably never lick, I am healthy as a mule. That's another big blessing.

I'm thankful for my computer and for email, facebook, skype and sites that keep me in touch with friends and family. I can't say I'm thankful for friends and family this year because I'm as socially isolated as I've ever been in my life, and for that I'm NOT thankful. But thanks to computer chatting and email I still keep in touch a little bit. And when I can once again say that I'm thankful for friends and family it'll be my computer that made it so I still HAVE friends and family.

I'm thankful for other internet sites like this one, sports and sports pool sites, comedy central, youtube, and google that make life for a socially isolated person a bit more bearable. I just found out that I lost a very valuable site like this today. Goodbye mininova.org and thanks for all the fish.

I'm thankful for my favourite TV shows that I used to download from mininova. I'm thankful for all the Thai and Filipino people who animate them for ridiculously low wages I'm sure. Family Guy, Simpsons, American Dad, Cleveland, Sit Down Shut Up, King of the Hill, Southpark, I love them all. I also like The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Survivor, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Fringe, Dexter, Big Bang Theory, 2 1/2 Men, 30 Rock, The Ultimate Fighter, Merlin, Man vs. Wild, How I Met Your Mother, Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters...OH MY GOD I need a life!

Who is thankful at Thanksgiving for a list of TV shows?! You know who I'm most thankful for? Two people. Named AXXO and EZTV. These are the people who upload and share the TV shows and movies I spend my down time watching. They're about the most important people in my life right now. That's sad.

But I'm thankful for the Jacksons. Cuz after a long semester like this last one, I can always go visit them and get out of my funk. Some real people time. In fact with the two boys it might be a little TOO much people time at times. But it's a nice change. So that's a sincere one. It's nice to have them to spend Christmas with every year while we're all still in Korea.

Even though my other friends are mostly moved away it's nice to have a few good friends left here in Korea. But because of the isolation at Seokang I'm not making new friends to replace the ones who leave.

I've had jobs that involved isolation before. I was taking care of a logging camp during break-up one spring and it was just me and the camp dog, Rocky. That I didn't mind too much. I drilled and camped in the woods for a few months solid seeing only 3 other guys. That I got through okay. I did lots of security work where I was the only guy in a grain elevator or construction site. But even though I see my students almost every day it's been a really slow year socially. Really slow. Slowest ever. So I'm thankful for every email, chat, letter, blog comment, phone call, text message or communication of any kind I get.

I'm thankful for having a life that even though I bitch about it is better than the lives of most people on this earth. There are a couple billion people who would be WAY more thankful than I am to have my life. I guess I need to try to be more thankful. But don't worry, I'll be complaining about something new soon. Probably next post.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans and people who are being thankful today!

Team Canada 2010

It's a little early but I have been watching a LOT of hockey since I got NHL Gamecenter and I can watch any game I want to online. So I am better informed than I have been in the past few years since now I can WATCH instead of just listen to NHL games online. There has already been a lot of speculation as to who will make the 23-man Canadian Olympic Hockey roster. I think I have some good suggestions.

First and foremost, since you can't win a game when you score no goals, are the forwards. Every team is only allowed 13 forwards. As in Olympics past there will be 13 Canadian boys NOT playing who could probably win the gold for Canada. That's just the depth we have in Canadian hockey. However, if I had to pick 13, these are the guys and possible line matches I would pick:

Line one would be Joe Thornton at center, Patrick Marleau on RW and Dany Heatley on LW. All from the San Jose Sharks. At this time the Sharks are struggling to score a bit but that's just because I loaded up on them in all my hockey pools. These guys have all been producing. Marleau is a center but his speed would be much better utilized on the wing. Take a look at the San Jose power play statistics and you have these three guys to thank for a lot of that scoring.

Line two is more contraversial. You gotta have Sid the kid centering at LEAST the second line. So I put Sidney Crosby at center with Jarome Iginla on RW and the bold choice of Jeff Carter on LW. Why Jeff Carter? He's a center for Philly, true, but he is a right handed shooter. For some reason they are rare in the NHL. And two secrets are becoming aparent to the "experts" in the NHL who are always the last to know and implement them: 1. You should NEVER take a slap shot from the point because these days it'll be blocked over half the time and a wrist shot is hard enough to go in, easier to deflect for a goal and impossible for defencemen to read and drop in front of. 2. A right handed goal scorer playing left wing is more dangerous than an angry tiger with ebola! I played some hockey before and I loved pumping one timers in while playing left wing and shooting right. That extra fraction of a second it takes for the pass to get across the body of a lefty is enough for the goalie to slide across the goal and block the shot. Elementary folks! Jeff Carter is a dangerous goal scorer and Sid the kid will feed him and Iginla all tourney. I doubt this will ever be a line on Team Canada but it sure should!

Third line is iffy. Iffy because there's no way of knowing how healthy Marc Savard will be by Olympic time. He's got a busted foot right now and coaches say he's two weeks away from play. Will he be in shape for the Olympics? I think he will. So he's my choice for third line center. Look how dismal the Bruins are without him! On his left I would put Shane Doan because he's ANOTHER right handed shooter and he's played left wing before although he's on the right side this season in Phoenix. And on the right is a guy who can play with anybody: Rick Nash. It'll be awesome to have Nash and Doan on the same line because they are two guys who regularly score a lot playing with very little support. What can they do with two all star players on their line?

The fourth line will probably have checkers. I hate that. It's the Olympics! Think skill. Score the other team to death! My fourth line center would be Ryan Getzlaf. On his right wing would be his teammate and massive scorer, Corey Perry. These guys are magic together. Left wing for this line is another guy I doubt we'll see in the Olympics but who I think deserves to be there: Dustin Penner. On EDMONTON he's piling up the stats and when I watch the Edmonton games it's HIS name I hear most. He's been a force in the NHL this year and is a natural left winger. I think he'd fit in well with the other two.

As a back-up you can't do any better than Captain Canuck, Ryan Smyth. He's played for Canada MANY times before and he can play any forward position. He's having a great year this year too! I think he'd be the best choice for the 13th forward.

LW C RW
Heatley Thornton Marleau
Carter Crosby Iginla
Doan Savard Nash
Penner Getzlaf Perry

Man that's beautiful!

Defensive pairings are pretty easy to choose in comparison.

Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer know each other well and are two of the best in the NHL.

Danny Boyle is great at joining the rush and Dion Phaneuf has a cannon from the point.

Mike Green is another offensive defenceman and he'd be great with Jay Bouwmeester to back him up.

And you can't go very wrong with veteran Rob Blake as the 7th man on defence.

The goaltending situation is going to be quite different from what I have in mind but I think the best bet for starting goalie has got to be Martin Brodeur. He's got the best save percentage and goals against average of any Canadian goalie this year and he's been steady for Team Canada forever.

For goalie number two I'd pick Marty Turco but I doubt he'll even be considered.

For my team it's a choice between Luongo and Fleury for third goalie. Neither has been outstanding this year. With Luongo you have a guy who could easily be number one but he's been injured and not very spectacular this year. Shooters have found a weakness over his left shoulder. Still I'd have to go with him. Most likely he'll be goalie number one or two and somebody else will get the third spot. But I don't see things that way.

So here is my Canadian line-up:

Centers: Thornton, Crosby, Savard, Getzlaf
Right Wings: Marleau, Iginla, Nash, Perry
Left Wings: Heatley, Carter, Doan, Penner
Extra forward: Smyth
Defence: Pronger, Niedermayer, Boyle, Phaneuf, Green, Bouwmeester, Blake
Goalie: Brodeur, Turco, Luongo

I'd give all four lines, and all defensive pairings, even ice time including penalty kill and power play. For captain I might choose Rob Blake. But there are quite a few good choices. I think I'd rotate the goalies too, but I doubt that'll happen. What a pleasure it would be to coach this team!

Smells like GOLD to me!



Just in case EVERY SINGLE player on my list is injured at Olympic time, I thought I'd make a second Team Canada. I think it's pretty good too.

Centers: Danny Briere, Eric Staal, Vincent Lecavalier, Jonathan Toews
Right Wings: Mike Cammalleri, Jordan Staal, Martin St. Louis, Devin Setoguchi
Left Wings: Simon Gagne, Ray Whitney, Brad Richards, John Tavares
Extra: James Neal
Defence: Ed Jovanovski, Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, Robyn Regehr, Michael Del Zotto, Duncan Keith, Brian Campbell
Goalies: Marc-Andre Fleury, Cam Ward, Steve Mason

The line of Briere/Cammalleri/Gagne will rock because Briere and Gagne were teammates on Philly at one time so they'd have chemistry. I wonder if Cammalleri can speak French.

Eric Staal and Ray Whitney are awesome together and it would be cool to see two of the Staal brothers on the same line.

Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis have played together for years! Brad Richards didn't usually play left wing but he's versatile and he's played with these two guys in Tampa Bay.

The young guns on the fourth line might make it their highest scoring line. And speaking of scoring: James Neal!

The defence would be more defensive than I'd like but there are a couple young fellas who might make mistakes so they need someone to stay at home and bail them out.

The three goalies are just as good as the three goalies on the first Team Canada.

These guys could win gold! I'd put a few bucks on them.

Only three more months! Only three more months!

Dave's top ten: Brian vs. Bon

It's been a while since I made one of these. Since I'm sitting at home tonight, "saving money", (that's what I call it nowadays when I am doing absolutely nothing), I figured I'd make a top ten list.

Youtube is awesome! Sometimes when I'm saving money I get on youtube and let it take me where it may. It's always different. That's one of the things I love about it. But even though it's always different, I am always the same and I focus in on my favourite things. Oddly enough I usually end up using youtube, a video site, for one of two things, neither of which you need video for. Stand-up comedy and music. Tonight it was music. And before long it was exclusively AC DC. I saw a couple documentaries, listened to a ton of songs and read a lot of comments. It seemed to me like no matter what song or video I watched there was always at least one comment about how Bon Scott was awesome and Brian Johnson sucks.

Well I don't find that at all! Back in Black was Brian's first album and it's still their best selling to date. I think it's the second highest selling in history behind "Thriller". Of course there are those who will say that Brian Johnson just cashed in on the popularity explosion that Bon Scott led AC DC up to. There is even some argument as to whether Bon Scott was the writer of some or all of the songs. "What Do You Do For Money", "Giving the Dog a Bone", "Shoot to Thrill", those titles sound a lot like the randy, rakish Bon Scott that's for sure. But I think the singing is solid and Brian Johnson had a VERY difficult job of replacing a legend and pulled it off. Something few could do. I like Brian Johnson and just about all the AC DC stuff he's done.

However, let's face it, he's not worthy to clean Bon Scott's bagpipe spitvalve. Bon Scott was made to sing rock and roll! While Brian screeches into the mike lyrics that are becoming more nasal and harder to understand as the years roll on, Bon had a lyrical character that few vocalist could match. He told stories. And we understood them. Most of them were filthy and therefore super cool! He was a hard partying, womanizer. Again, super cool! And it gave a ring of authenticity to his songs about sex with the gigantic Rosie, violence like in TNT or Problem Child, ravishing young girls, and then little bit TOO young girls like in Love at First Feel or Squealer, and it made us wonder a bit about his sanity when he sang songs like Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and Night Prowler.

He had that uncanny knack that is impossible to teach of being able to ad lib a noise, say "Wooo!", growl, howl, bark like a dog or throw in a few extra words between lines that are so perfect you can't even humm the songs any more without including them.

The following is my top ten list of songs that are loaded with Bon Scott character and prove that he was one of the best rock vocalists ever. Not necessarily my favourite AC DC songs, (I doubt I could pull that off), but some are definitely amongst my faves and they are in order. So here we go...

1. "It's a Long Way To The Top If You Want To Rock and Roll"

It's also a long way to the end of that title! But bagpipes in a rock song. How many examples of that do you know of? Bon played the pipes in this tune. And they weren't just a gimmick, they ROCK! It's the one and ONLY good use for bagpipes I can think of off hand. Oh yeah, "Mull of Kintyre". Okay I stand corrected. By myself.

2. "Ain't No Fun Waiting Round To Be A Millionaire"

"Hello Howard. Friend. Next door neighbour. Get your fuckin' jumbo jet out of my airport!"

3. "Whole Lotta Rosie"

"She ain't exactly pretty. She ain't exactly small. 42 39 56 you could say she's got it all!"

4. "The Jack"

Just a little tiny bit of sexual inniendo. "She was holding a pair, but I had to try. Her deuce was wild, but my ace was high. How was I to know that she'd been dealt with before?" and it goes on like this.

5. "Let There Be Rock"

Oh sacrilege!

6. "Dog Eat Dog"

"Woof!" I'm not kidding. Just before an awesome guitar solo. Phil Rudd is at his best in this song on the drums. This song has some pretty good lyrics too! "It's a lie and that's the truth."

7. "Squealer"

It's one of the filthy ones but the way he goes from a dramatic whisper to 'squealing' is great!

8. "Problem Child"

The first lyrics are, "Fuck this!" What a way to get into a song! "I'm a problem child. And my Mother hates me!"

9. "Love at First Feel"

Another song on the Dirty Deeds album that makes you want to wash your hands after listening to it. Then listen to it again. "You never told me where you came from. Never told me your name. I didn't know if you were legal tender but I spent it just the same." One of their first tours was called the "Lock up Your Daughters" tour. Is it any wonder?

10. "Touch Too Much"

The only song on my list from the Highway to Hell album. This was the first AC DC album produced by Mutt Lange and I think he tried to reign in Bon a little bit to make the songs tighter. But he shows some of his personality here. "She had the face of an angel smiling with sin."

I have probably forgotten one or two songs that really show Bon's abilities so why not go on over to youtube now and give them a listen. I think AC DC tunes got better and better but the lyrics and singing really weren't the same after Bon. But I WILL say that it's a VERY lucky thing they got rid of their egotistical first singer, Dave Evans. His voice was good but I can't find too many pics of him without his eyes closed in rapturous delight at his own voice. I saw a pretty good vid of Angus and Malcolm Young talking about that guy. Neither one of them could stand him. BOTH Brian and Bon are better than him!

But that's just my opinion.

This may piss some people off but I've been known to do that.

I'm having mixed feelings right now. It's Remembrance Day in Canada tomorrow. It's already November 11th here. Americans are observing Veteran's Day then too. And for I guess about 90 years the significance of these ceremonies has been diminishing every year. And that bugs me folks. It really does!

I can only imagine the emotion of the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month at the end of World War I. People all over the world were happy that the war was over but gutted about all the friends, family and innocence they had lost during the war. I think they truly believed that they were fighting for the improvement of the future in their respective countries. And as a testiment to that they went home and promptly got busy bringing record numbers of new people INTO that future that they had fought for. This is when I start thinking, "Little did they know," instead of, "Lest we forget," because at this time, (our fighting ancestors' future, and our present), I wonder if this is what they wanted. Is this what they fought and died for? And more importantly, are we getting closer or farther away from their ideals?

I don't want to be too negative because even with the limited world travel I have done, I have seen first-hand that Canada IS a better place to live than a LOT of other countries. And if I were able to live in my own country I'm sure that I'd appreciate it.

The most significant tidbit of knowledge, and by far the most shocking thing I've learned from my world travel is that in countries like Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, in the country, (not so much in the cities), the happiness of the average person seems to go far beyond the happiness I see in ANYONE in Canada. I've seen people in the rice fields of Thailand working long hours in the sun that made me sweat just watching them. While I was on vacation cursing the heat, they were the happy ones. I've seen people on the beach in Indonesia who had never owned a pair of shoes selling pineapple to tourists for subsistance incomes. While I was sweating they were smiling. And in the Philippines I danced with an island full of fishermen and farmers in one of only a few pubs they had and while I was SWEATING they were singing, dancing and making me jealous.

I think when, (and if), the day comes that I can finally afford to return to Canada I just might try to manufacture a situation for myself that comes close to what these happy people have. I'll get a small house with a little land. Maybe plant some crops. Get a few dogs. It will not be anything like the situation I'm SUPPOSED to have in Canada, but maybe that's the point I wanna make here. Maybe we owe it to ourselves and our ancestors who were fighting so that we could find happiness, to stop chasing the almighty dollar and start looking for it. Happiness that is.

And here in Korea, to complicate my thoughts even further, November 11th is a day they call Pepero Day. Pepero are chocolate covered cookies shaped like sticks. Because November 11th is 11 11 and the ones are kind of stick-like like Pepero, everybody buys each other Pepero to celebrate. They have a Pepero song and games. They even do what we call, "air quotes" to signify Pepero Day.

So everybody here is in a good mood today and I'm kind of morose wondering if my our people have appropriately honoured the efforts of our ancestors. I made myself a poppy and wore it to class and my students asked what it was for. They showed interest in our tradition. They have the same thing here on June 25th. They call it "Yugeeoh", which is not to be confused with "Yugioh" the famous Japanese superhero, collector cards and cartoon. Yuk is 6, Ee is 2 and Oh is 5. 06 25.


So it's a bit of a confusing day here. Nonetheless I hope we never do forget what "The Greatest Generation" did for us. Support your local Royal Canadian Legion. And happy Pepero day!

Halloween in Korea

It's just past Halloween here in Korea. Two nights ago I entertained the idea of turning on the air conditioning and tonight the heater. However the addition or removal of clothing and/or the repositioning of windows and blinds has been sufficient to alter the temperature to my liking. If none of the above works tonight I'll just get fetal under a couple of long unused blankets on my bed. Cold has ever been a friend to me. It's the heat I despise. The transition from one to the other, (rather the other to one respectively), has been almost instantaneous this year. Apart from foliage discolouration and a slight drop in temperature Korea has been all but cheated out of an autumn. And it's tied for my favourite season here in Korea!

I saw a few snowflakes as I walked to the corner store to photocopy homework for my classes today. A five-minute walk that included no less than 15 Korean exclamations of, "Oh chuweoh," which means, "Oh it's cold!" Although, in my experience, this not so hale and hearty younger generation starts with the "oh chuweohs" as soon as you can keep your butter out of the fridge. It wasn't more than a few days ago that the same trip wetted a dry T-shirt with sweat. As I type this my feet are in need of woolen socks and I feel a sudden and overwhelming urge to eat something covered in maple syrup. It's cold folks. In MY room anyway. The air coming in the window has that familiar, full-bodied diesel exhaust bouquet. It's pretty much winter today.

On Halloween night in the German Bar in downtown Gwangju I was sitting directly beside the open door in order to have the coolest seat in the house. And it was raining outside, hot, muggy and there seemed to be no sign of fall. Things changed in a hurry.

But it's not the weather I stumbled out from under the covers to type about on this night. It's not the temperature or precipitation that has made me tear myself away from the good book I was reading. Or re-reading. (The Picture of Dorian Gray). It is an often pondered mystery of this, my adopted country that puzzles me to distraction. Why don't Koreans do Halloween?

Indeed on the very night I did query a few costumed respondents and this is what several of them had to say, "Halloween isn't traditionally Korean." A solid answer in that if it is traditional, Koreans ALL do it. No matter how ancient, antiquated, outdated or inconvenient. Right? I am not so sure of that...

How traditional are cell phones? And if you think for a second that Japan or any other country comes close in cellphone culture, you'd just be wrong. It is a firmly entrenched part of the Korean identity. Cell phones and accessories are pieces of flair in modern Korea that have replaced the societal cues such as clothing, hairstyles, fans, servants, family seals etc. You may not score a date with the best looking guy or girl just because of your cellphone but you could lose one for dropping a call, having last year's model or exhibiting slow texting skills. My phone is about 6 years old. My students think it's "cute". But it's better than when I didn't have a phone and my students thought I must be a serial killer or worse, a "wonkda." That's the Korean word for a social misfit or outcast.

It's anyone's guess as to how social culture will transform in any country, but I think I've been here long enough to give a few opinions. I think Koreans would love Halloween! Here are a few reasons why:

1. Koreans love free stuff and they love candy. Free candy is a no-brainer. And it's not something that's limited by age in any way.

2. Korean girls absolutely love to get dolled up, often to the extreme. Now here is an area where I would say Japan DOES eclipse Korea. But only in a manga, cartoon charactery way. Korean chicks just dig getting dressed to the nines. When I show pictures of girls in Halloween costumes that would qualify as being dressed to the tens or elevens, (like the ones above), my female students moan longingly. You know the princess, angel, cat, French maid, naughty nurse, student, cheerleader, and maybe comic book character etc. costumes I'm talking about. The ones Koreans just couldn't quite get away with on any other day. I'm sure they'd get right into those on Halloween!

3. Korean guys would get into those costumes too! Not so much the wearing of them but supporting the girls who wear them.

4. Drinking! Nuff said.

5. Spooky things and ghosts are a bit different but I would say Koreans like to get creeped out just as much as any culture going.

I've seen a lot of kids wearing costumes and having school parties here so it's starting to catch on. But trick-or-treaters are still non-existant. Every year I buy candy and hope, but nobody comes a-knocking.

There is all kinds of conjecture. Maybe it's just too dangerous to send kids out into the streets here. Not that they'll be abducted so much but I think the fear would be more of kids being hit by vehicles.

Maybe everybody's working, or at least at work, all night so nobody can stay home to hand out treats.

Maybe people are loathe to espouse another foreign ritual.

Maybe it's still more attractive to be too "shy" to wear a costume.

Maybe trick-or-treating or Halloween partying just needs the immeasurable boost of being featured in a Korean drama or music video before it's safe for people to do it here in earnest.

Who knows?

Really, who knows? Anyone? If you have any ideas don't hesitate to post a comment. I just can't figure it out.

And so another Halloween has come and gone and there are no signs that it is catching on yet. Oh well, maybe next year...