Last year, I had attended the Distant Worlds concert in Seoul. In August of this year, I found out that they were coming back to South Korea, but they were going to perform at Seongnam Arts Centre Opera House, located in Seongnam about forty minutes away from Seoul. I was eager to attend this concert once more, and I went with my friend Bobby by the subway, where we got off at Imae Station on the Bundang Line. The place was indeed only five minutes away from exit one, so we arrived about an hour early (the concert started at 3), and we looked at the merchandises they were selling. I wanted to get the Kanon CD, but it was 50,000 won ($45) for one CD. Instead, I opted to get this 15,000 won ($12) booklet. Bobby and I both had VIP seats which cost 99,000 won ($95), but we were not sitting next to each other. He ended up in the 2nd row in the middle, and I was six rows back from the stage, and was two rows away from Hamauzu Masashi-sama! I was so near him!

With a perfect seating arrangement, I had a fabulous time! With Prime Philharmonic Orchestra, the Most Voices choir, Kanon as soprano, Ha Man-Taek as tenor, Jeong Geon-chae as baritone, Jeon Ik-Duk as organ soloist, and of course Maestro Arnie Roth as the conductor, it was a beautiful concert. I want to say it was better than last year’s in terms of quality. Unfortunately, the audience wasn’t as fun as last year’s. Last year there was a full house — this year, there were plenty of empty seats. This year’s audience seemed less enthusiastic and receptive.

Regardless, I LOVED IT. Here is what they played. Continue reading this entry »

*collapses and clings onto Provo the computer* What a weekend! One of the best three-day weekend I’ve had in a long time! Oh, why, oh, why must it end?! Here’s a recap of my adventures, starting on Friday night after work!

Friday ~ Going, Going, Going
I was supposed to meet my friend Dongmi after work at seven. Well, she said to meet at Namyeong Station by 8:30. I bummed around and got pizza at Pizza hut before I got a ride with my parents to the area. While I waited, I got some coffee at Holly’s Coffee, but I was then told by her to come to Jongno 5-ga. I took the subway, was almost at Jongno 5-ga, and was told to just come to Seongbuk Station. She and I hung around at this Korean HOF (a Korean pub) and I met her publisher friend, a Mr Jang. I got a signed copy of Dongmi’s book, and we spent the night having fun.

We left around midnight. Dongmi and I shared a cab all the way to my neighbourhood. Once there, I stopped by Noxa, my friends’ restaurant, and I had a fuzzy navel there. I was rather ambushed by a pretty drunk Scottish guy (Dave was his name) wanting to talk about Korean culture and cultural identity confusion. Despite his drunkenness, it was a fairly interesting conversation. Unfortunately, I had to jet home, so I came home by 1:30am!

Saturday ~ Indian, Hell Beans, Wine, and Gravitation
I was to meet another friend, Yi Unnie for the day. Before that, though, I made more cookies. I rushed through them and set aside to give some to Yi Unnie and the gang at Noxa. I gave the cookies, and Yi Unnie and I went to Taj Palace in Itaewon to have the weekend buffet there. We recovered our poor stomachs by resting at Hell Beans. We then backtracked to Noxa, and we shared this bottle of wine. I’m not a big wine fan, but I ended up liking that one! With that and a complimentary cheese platter, she and I had a fun time drinking and talking.

When we parted, I came home and I decided to finally read my Gravitation mangas I’ve bought like three or four years ago! I read about six volumes before I crashed at 6am the next morning.

Sunday ~ Gravitation Marathon
I, er, woke up at 3pm. Er, yay! I then proceeded to finish the rest of my Gravitation mangas. Boy, I’m glad I finished. It was fun, I admit, but Shuichi and Yuki’s dysfunctional relationship just about made me want to throw the whole series out my window. This is one of those rare case where I think I prefer the anime over the manga. Sure, the manga has a better backstory, but I think seeing the characters come alive in animation is better than the manga. The pacing of the manga series was just really awful for me. But I finished it finally! Hurrah! Next on my to-read list I need to tackle — Death Note!

Unfortunately, Gravitation fanfictions are distracting me!

Monday ~ Incheon Adventure

A few weeks ago, Joe — one of my Noxa buddies — and I agreed to go to Incheon. We went by his car, and I got to see Sinpo-dong, Chinatown, tried these Chinese baked bread, had awesome udon (udong in Korean) and mandoo, and went to Wolmido. There we rode one of those 4-D movies thingie and then we had coffee on the “boardwalk”. It was a very fun day, minus the traffic we encountered (it took ten minutes to travel 1km for a good twenty minutes!). I ended up liking Incheon. It’s a city like Seoul, but it felt different. More relaxing, I think. I wouldn’t mind visiting Incheon again! My only regret? I didn’t go on that ferris wheel! I will next time!

I remembered to take my camera to take pictures, but my batteries weren’t exactly charged, so I didn’t really get to take a lot! Boo!

Conclusion
I wish I didn’t have to resume work tomorrow! Boo, poo, and a box and a pox on it all!

I’ve booked my trip to Tokyo earlier today through Travelocity. Excitement and panic overtook me after I did it due to stupid paranoia about middle names and whatnot. Don’t ask.

I’ll be leaving Seoul on October 21 and will be gone until October 27. Am going to fly Delta and am going to stay at Sunroute Akasaka. I’ve opted to take the cheaper hotel over the hotel I’ve stayed at before . . . luckily, it’s only a block away, behind the Akasaka-Mitsuke subway station.

My poor credit card hates me as it had its first $1000+ USD transaction today. The flight/hotel package with all its taxes and other necessity totalled $1009.42 USD. Good thing I had the foresight to raise my credit limit last year!

I feel like I’ve rushed through this and acted spontaneously, but when I look at it realistically, I didn’t. This was a trip I’d meant to go LAST YEAR. I’d already had my choices in my head, so I just frantically went nuts trying to put it all together to work . . .

REGARDLESS, I AM GOING TO BACK TO TOKYO. WHEEEEEEEE! :D :D :D

All right, people. Those in Japan who wants to meet up? TIME TO PLAN! :D Contact me, people!

* I’ve been focusing more on LiveJournal than this blog. Oops. Must try to blog more.

* James Dean is my new concubine! I saw him in East of Eden. Why have I not watched this earlier?! He can so haunt my dreams! <3

* Persona 3 Portable has abducted my soul, and with that abduction, I’ve beaten it yesterday. At 5:30am. Yes, I’m insane. A review of the game will come soon! In the meantime, I’ll replay the game from the female protagonist POV!

* I decided to buy new glasses as a back-up pair in case my current one decides to commit suicide becomes mutilated by clumsy me. A plastic frame glass . . . it cost me 55,000 won ($52ish).

* I met my friend A. on Thursday, and we hung out at Dongdaemun to buy my mum’s crochet threads, Daehakro to eat and see the Gandalf statue, and Itaewon to chill at a cafe, eat dinner, and go to a Noraebang. I also discovered that day that some stupid taxi drivers mishears (on purpose maybe?) stuff from their passenger and takes them to the wrong destination. I said “DongDAEmun”. Stupid driver thought I said “DongLIBmun”. WTF?! Aughhhh!

* Yesterday, I met my friend T., and we hung out at Myeong-dong. While there, I splurged on two new pairs of shoes at the ABC Mart. I bought a Vans for 48,000 won ($45ish) and my first pair of Converse for 55,000 won ($52ish). With those and my two new Skechers I’ve yet to wear yet, I’ve got enough shoes to last me for the next three years!

* And with this final bullet, I’ll need to sleep. Am exhausted. This stupid weather needs to die. It’s a freaking sauna out there, and I just want winter to come back.

There’s something really fun about meeting online friends. That’s what I ended up doing for most of this weekend, and it was a fantastic opportunity that I’m glad I didn’t miss!

I ended up meeting Ms Bizarro, who’s here for a teaching stint on Saturday night. We met up at Noksapeyong station, and we had dinner and chilled out at Noxa. Talking to her face to face was so much better than IMing!

Today, I met up with Katy and her boyfriend, Trieu. We met up around Myeong-dong, went to Daehakro for shopping and stuff, went to Dongdaemun for more shopping adventures for Katy, and had dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant in my neighbourhood. Then we chilled at Noxa for a while, and in between that, we viewed the Fourth of July fireworks Yongsan was having! Fun! Really, fun!

I admit that I was feeling mighty nervous meeting them! But it turned out wonderfully. They were all awesome people, and it really was a pleasure to hang out with them.

I can now spend the rest of the night happy :)