I went and saw Curious George yesterday. Oh man… it brought back so many memories. I enjoyed the movie immensely. George was such a cutie, and Ted was amusing. Although I founded that I was sympathising Junior… poor guy. Seriously though, I want me a George. Okay, make that a less destructive George. XD I liked the animation. It was nicely done. On the last note, yes it was really fluffy for today’s children movie. It was a lot like the movies I’ve seen as a kid. Perhaps that’s why I really loved it. Oh. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. I hope they don’t make a sequel based on the ending. No… just NO.

To start off my adventure spent today at the Lotus Lantern Festival, celebrating Buddha’s 2550th birthday, I have to say one thing: MY FEET HURT!!!!!

I ended up meeting Sarah at Seoul Station’s subway station. From there, we were supposed to transfer from Line 4 to Line 1. We did that properly. What we did not do was get on the right train. Instead of the train going to City Hall, we went the other way around. D’OH! This was the first subway blunder I made since that evil Line 2 incident. We got off at Yongsan station to go back the other way. Needless to say, I did NOT like Yongsan station at all. After today, I officially declare Line 1 to be the meanest subway line in Seoul.

We finally arrived at our destination, at Jongak station. We walked directly to Jogyesa temple and waited around to get the free lantern Sarah wanted badly. We both ended up getting two each. Almost didn’t get one when the guy yelled at me that I can only take these if I do something with it later, and all because I didn’t want the sodding candle that comes with it! Bah. Well Sarah’s green one had a small hole, and mine had a huge hole in it. That sucked, but oh well. Since we were afraid of getting rained on (the weather looked awful earlier), and we were afraid of getting these ruined, we trekked all the way back to Ichon-dong via subway and dropped these lanterns off at Sarah’s place. Then we went all the way back via subway to Jongak.

With the lantern worries over, we walked around the streets, where they closed off all traffic, to see the different activites at each booth. We saw plenty from Lotus Paintings to learning how to chant, and to learn how to make other various things. There were also booths on other countries’ Buddhism like Nepal, Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka. At one of the booth, they had a thing where we could design flowers on a piece of rice cake, and they’d fry it for us to eat it. Mine turned out crappy, but it was still good.

Sarah wanted to do some beading, so we looked for one and finally found one. I didn’t want to do it, since I suck at craftsy stuff. Well, I gave in and tried. Sarah finished ahead of time, and since I took forever, someone finished it off for me. Ironically enough, they were a bit careless and dropped some of the beads that I had worked hard to get on, so they redid it for me, and I ended up with a free bracelet.

Then we had the opportunity to learn how to bow in Buddhism style. I didn’t want to do it again. But I did. Augh! Had I known they were gonna make us bow like 20 times, I would not have done it. And the person leading us did not give us enough time to get off the ground before we had to go back down again. I hope nobody took pictures of us doing it. I’m sure my form was all ugly. XD Oh well… Whoever wanted to take a picture of my ass… I guess they are free to do so. My legs felt like jelly after that.

With food on our mind, we went to a nearby Japanese restaurant and had a feast. Then we wanted to go to a cafe to unwind before the parade started at about 7. We found one, and from there we FINALLY planned out some of our RP we’ve been wanting to plan out since like January. XD Oh it shall be interesting. Our boys are gonna have an interesting love-hate relationship. Oh, la, la. ^_^ We even created a whole new planet with continents and whatnot. We even started off our RP on paper/pencil style. We didn’t name our characters yet, so we were calling them the Ambassador and Prince.

Afterwards, we went to the parade area, and we waited a good half hour with some mediocre entertainment. Then the parade started. Oh, it was great. The lanterns were lovely. My favourites were the HUGE ones in the shapes of elephants, dragons, and whatnot. I did not appreciate the fireworks coming out or exploding from couple of them. That freaked me out several times where I screamed and clung onto Sarah. Oh man. Loud noises + Fire = Freaked out Tara.

Although there was a funny incident. We saw this one guy dancing with the parade participants. We thought he was part of the parade. Apparently he was just some drunk guy because we saw the police chasing him off to the spectators area. It was funny XD. Along with various made lanterns, and people carrying lanterns in the parade, we had various groups of people doing Korean traditional dances and drumworks (Samul Nori). I love those. The drums are awesome. We even saw foreigners in the parade, and those other countries’ Buddhism representatives in the parade too. Strangely, while I saw Nepal, Thailand, and Sri Lanka… I did not see the Indian one. Weird.

After standing around for two hours, my feet had enough and so did my brain. I went and got a hot dog on the stick from one of the vendors to satisfy my hunger and sat down in an empty chair. Thankfully it ended soon after that. While it was wonderful and all, I must say that it was just a bit too long. We took the subway for the last time today, and headed back home. While walking to my stop, I stopped by Istanbul, and talked with Joe for a bit with a glass of Gin and Tonic. Now, I’m finally home.

It’s been a long ass week. I’m glad it’s over.

I should feel accomplished by the fact that I was so productive today, yet I don’t. I guess I am just too exhausted to care. Other than work, where I played nice-nice with the students (…as nice as I can get), I completed most of my math homework while working. After failing that test (a wondrous 56%!), I am gonna see if trying the homework help, which doesn’t really since I still can’t get the hang of the damn problems. I cannot believe we are actually covering imaginary numbers. I certainly did NOT touch that in high school, so it’s a bit confusing. x_x;; Yes, the exam score is awful. *sighs* At least, the teacher is letting us redo the ones we got wrong for half credits. So if I redo everything and get them correct, I shall get a 78. Unfortunately, she said she’s not doing this for our next two test, so I’m gonna try to aim for a 70 for the next two. Kill me.

After work, I went to Sarah’s classroom and helped her paint these thing. Hey, I am actually proud of this activity! I actually can paint decently! XD Then again, the thing I painted was like a life-sized human drawn on paper, so the larger, the more easier it is comes to my mind.

Then, she and I walked to Itaewon’s McDonald and pigged out there. We talked about this and that, and what we are planning on Sunday. Woot. We’re gonna go to the Buddha’s birthday celebration in downtown Seoul. Should be interesting. Let’s hope she gets that lantern she’s been wanting since last year. Apparently, she went last year and went too late, so she never got that free lantern she keeps gushing about. XD It’s kinda funny about how enthusiastic she’s being over this whole lantern situation. ^_^;;

Soon, we parted, and I came home. Went straight to the computer, and I ended up updating my mp3 rotation site. Now, I don’t have to worry about updating that thing for the next couple weeks. God… now to hit the showers and SLEEP. I forgot how difficult it is getting up at 6 every morning and then work till 3. AND AUGH! My Psychology exam is this Saturday! … I nearly forgot. *dies* Not a good week. ARGH! Okay, I need sleep.

Rest in peace indeed. April 21, 11:30am.

I may not have been friends with you, and I may not have talked to you as much, but we were classmates in high school, and we did see each other around the base. Still, it is a shock to hear that you have passed on already. From what I could tell, I could tell you were a nice person. It is a shame that this had to happen.

RIP. This kind of event makes all my troubles seem insignificant.

Well, I finally finished that website I said I was going to work on in the previous entry. Here’s my newest fanlisting: Final Showdown: Phantasy Star 4. XD Since that’s the first RPG I’ve ever played, that’s probably a real good reason why I am still in love with that game. And having cute bishies help!

Aside from that, I squealed like a maniac earlier on, which scared my mum, and it was all because of the last episode of Tales of Phantasia OVA. The last ep finally got fansubbed. I. Be. Happy. XD XD XD Whee!

Yesterday was a great example on how the simplest things made my day and un-made my day.

* While walking to Dragon Hill Lodge, I was talking to Sarah on my cellphone, and I looked down. Lo and behold, I found a 1000 won bill, equivalent to about $1 USD. Kind of like finding a penny but with more value. ^_^ Not everyday do I find money on the ground. Of course my greedy side was saying, “too bad it wasn’t like ten bucks or something.” Ah well.

* I was picked for the “Consider Yourself Quoted” at Rice Bowl Journals. How awesome is that? :3 If my stuff is deemingly quotable, then I guess it is!

* Dealing with a tough class always puts me on the edge. Being a substitute teacher wears me out on certain days. Yesterday was one of them. Even though the teacher warned me about the class, I still was hoping it’d be easier than she said. Nope. I changed my tactics; made them do more work than the teacher originally assigned, and said if you don’t do it, I’ll give detentions after school. Bottom of the line, I talked to the teacher after school, and she approved what I did with them. Then she said what I didn’t expect to hear, “With just that one class, you definitely earned your half-day pay.” That made me feel better.

* Then, still feeling like crap, I went to the band room and pounded away on the piano. That made me feel heck of a lot better. Playing the piano is a great stress reliever. Actually playing any instrument is.

* The Math exam was a pure waste of my effort. I didn’t finish most of the problems, having the case of brain fart, and it took me almost two hours to do complete only like 13 problems out of 25. I be pathetic… *sighs*

* All in all, some things made my day, and some things somewhat ruined it. Ah well. Now to work on my online class assignment and make a new fanlisting. If I can get in the mood.