Now that it’s been over a month since I started to teach myself Japanese, I realised something. I like teaching myself new things at my own pace and method. As long as there are no grading involved or other annoyances, I enjoy it. Oh and as long as it doesn’t involve money. I think that’s why I don’t really bother to go find a Japanese class at the moment. Then again, those classes would be taught in Korean, and I’d struggle with both Korean and Japanese instead of just the latter!

Moving on, along with my current Japanese adventure, I think of the other stuff I self-taught myself over the years and here’s a short list:

• HTML/CSS/PHP — Sometimes I would need somebody to explain something, but a lot of it was self-taught, and even though I did take basic HTML class, it was mostly stuff I already knew. Never mind that I couldn’t tackle Javascript.
• Touch Typing — I never took a typing class. Instead, I spent an entire summer learning to type fast by having ten chat windows opened before my sophomore year. I think that’s the best way to improve your typing skills, haha!
• Microsoft Office Programmes — Granted I did take a class or two that taught me certain skills, but a lot of it came from experimentation. I’d sit for hours and play with them.
• Graphics Programmes — Like the previous, I experimented a lot on those or read tutorials that showed me how to do stuff on Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.

While I am glad I self-taught a lot of these skills for myself, I think being a self-learner has some disadvantages. The main one being that I am very impatient when someone asks me a question on doing some of these stuff. Like for an example, “How do I make a column in Microsoft Word?” I want to bang my head on the wall at times when I am asked these questions because a lot of these are stuff I discovered by experimenting, so in my mind I think the following: If I can figure this out on my own, so can you.

I know, I know. That’s not very nice of me, but still. Several weeks ago, I had an acquaintance asking me what this new message appearing in their email meant, and it was only one of those new user agreement thing where you check the box to agree the thing. That person, without even reading the darn thing immediately asked me what this was. Blarrrrrrgh. I don’t care if you’re Korean and blame your poor English skills, but if it’s something where you don’t even bother to try, then please don’t ask me! And that same person had enough nerve to accuse me of not trying to fix a broken printer a few days later — a printer I fought with for twenty minutes. So yeah, I didn’t try, huh?

. . . Anyway, readers, what are some stuff you self-taught yourself to do? Tell me of your adventures! Maybe it will influence me to try something different on my own in the future! :D

Once upon time, back in 1993-1994, a little third grader went on a field trip to the Namsan Tower (N Seoul Tower) with the entire third grade classes. She remembered taking the bus to the base of the mountain, and she remembered climbing up to reach the tower, where she had fun looking all over Seoul from the observatory deck. However, the rest of the trip traumatised her because the third grade teachers had the brilliant idea of making them all walk back to the school from the tower. The little third grader remembered the excursion very well, to the point that she vowed she’d never go back up the tower again.

In the present time in July 2009, the little third grader, now grown up, decided to go back to the tower on the condition that she goes there on a different mode of transportation. She and her friend decided to take the cable car, where they found out that it was 6,000 won for a one-way trip, and they had to share the cable car with forty other people — which proved to be a very hot and cramped trip. They reached the tower, and a lot of amateur photography session ensured.
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Warning: Semi-stream-of-consciousness style writing ahead.

No, I haven’t pissed off and died like Provo did for 48 hours. Instead, I just haven’t felt like blogging much these days. Right now I’m at the point in my life where I’m just lost at everything. It doesn’t help that work is affecting the way I feel the most, amongst other things.

Instead of blogging, I’ve been turning to Harry Potter fanfiction to escape from life. Most of the time, I read fanfictions. However, I’ve been writing my own share of fanfictions as well. Right now, I’m working on a fic that revolves around Neville/Draco as a pairing. Quite interesting, really. Since the fic is being written in first person point of view using Draco’s voice, I feel like I’m channelling my frustrations through him. Never mind that he’s fictional and vastly different from me, starting with gender. Writing, though, is really therapeutic. For a while at least.

While I lose myself in fanfictions, I also lose myself in reading about such stars like Freddie Mercury. I want to know more about him. He fascinates me. His life, his musical talent — everything about him screams to me. I even considered buying the documentary DVD of his life — only to discover it was 40+ bucks. Granted, it’s a two-disc set, but still. I’m not sure what attracts him to me. Maybe it’s the way he lived. I want to do something different with my life like he did. Only problem is, I don’t know how.

I keep looking at travel tickets to Tokyo and London. I really need to stop torturing myself. The more I look at them, the more I want to leave here and go to one of the two locations. Never mind that I never been to London, I still want to go to the UK. I’ve always been fascinated by that nation. Even as a child, I admired that country. However, Tokyo is closer to South Korea — my home country. However both places are so expensive, and since the dollar-won rate conversion is great right now, I don’t dare leave that comfort yet.

I should also consider on a graduate programme. Only problem is I know what I really want to study. I want to study literature. I want to study contemporary and modern literature. Despite my hatred of some modern writers (T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound are a couple), I have a love-hate relationship with them. That’s what I really want to study, if I had the money right off hand. That’s my idealistic side talking, though. My practical side screams at me to don’t go that route. It orders me to choose a “practical” degree, a degree I’ll live my career off of. The problem with that logic is simple: I don’t know what career I want any more.

Really, my head’s a mess with reality. That’s why I escape it through various means, and right now it’s fanfictions. At least I’m not taking the alcoholic/drug route, hahaha.

I just spent the last two and a half hours doing my annual bedroom/computer room cleaning. I ended up with a large garbage bag of trash and three smaller bags of VHS tapes that needs to leave this place. While cleaning, I stumbled upon some of my old textbooks that I couldn’t sell, and that’s when I realised something.

Exactly a year had passed since I’ve stopped being an undergrad student. I look back at this entire year and look at the ups and downs of being a student. I miss taking classes and learning, yet I don’t miss the papers, projects, and exams. I miss the lectures, but I don’t miss the idiots that were most of my classmates. I miss the feeling of receiving an “A” on a paper I bullshitted through, yet I don’t miss the stress and exhaustion from the process! I miss the knowledge I would gain from my classes, but I don’t miss reading the textbooks nor its expensive price tag. I miss some of my study sessions with friends, yet I don’t miss the evil combination of school and work.

I look at my future and think, Oh, hell noes! I have to go through this all over again times one hundred if I ever decide on graduate school. After enjoying a year without schooling, I honestly do not know if I’d want to give that “freedom” up. However, let me figure out what I want to obtain my masters in. After a year, I still have no idea on what I want to pursue!

I think the fact that it took eight, EIGHT, months for my BA diploma and transcript to arrive broke all records in the world. This even surpasses the time that it took for me to get my AA (four to five months).

Seriously. Was $50 worth the frustration and anger I had to go through to get this stupid sodding “piece of paper” in my hand? Hell no. Did it make me happy to see that the transcript was printed out in August 8, 2008? Or what about the official letter that was typed up in July 28, 2008? No, it did not make me happy since this just proved the fact that these morons at my university, simply put, forgot about me. Never mind those times where they told me, five months ago, that the diploma was on its way.

It’s kind of funny that after last month, where I spent a week trying to get a hold of someone at the main headquarters in Japan, I finally talked to one of the mothers at the daycare centre, someone who works for the Korean division, to do something about it. Actually, it’s not funny. It’s more like I’m laughing because the irony is killing me. It’s like, why didn’t I just try this before. Oh, right. I didn’t because my university’s administration workers are seriously incompetent.

Is it possible to be angry and happy at the same time? Talk about two contrasting emotion. That was how I felt, though, when I opened up the package. I was happy to finally receive the thing, ensuring a goofy smile on my face, but that smile changed to a scowl after I realised that they just took care of it at the end of July and a few days ago. Bah.

Now that I have the huge diploma in my hand, I have no clue what I want to do with it. Other than framing it, that is. Or perhaps I’ll use it as a fan or use it as a fly swatter After all, my own university obviously deemed it to be worthless.

// END SARCASTIC ENTRY.

P.S. – At least my diploma came with my Junjou Romantica art book. That definitely brought a big smile to my face.