Goodbye

I went out on Saturday night for a few pints of Guinness with a couple of my mates. It came to the end of the night and I got a lift home from one of my friends. We pulled up, I got out of the car, thanked my friend's girlfriend for the lift (she was sober) and turned to my friend ready to say "I'll see you next......".

Normally, I would have something to finish the sentence, but this time I didnt because I wont likely be seeing him for at least 12 months. This was the last goodbye before Korea. A weird feeling.

I couldn't think of a good 'Goodbye' pic so instead have one of The Secret Rivals' first gig.

Sick

The last few days have been a mixed bag.

On Monday I was hunched over the toilet praying to the porcelain gods for leniency in a battle to retain my stomach contents. I forgot how painful it was to vomit while sober. Due to my sobriety I was able to accurately identify all the components of my puke, which I'm not sure whether is a good or a bad thing. I ended up spending almost a whole day in bed with a nasty virus.

On Tuesday I found out more details on where I will be living in Korea. I shall soon be a brand spanking new resident of Pohang. A few nuggets of info that I've been able to find out so far about my new home are....

It has a large steel factory
It has a footie team in the K-League - Pohang Steelers
It's got a multiplex cinema
There's US naval base nearby
It has a lot of prostitues

Sounds like fun times. I'm getting more excited for my upcoming adventure but also a wee bit more apprehensive as everything is becoming more 'real'.

Possessions

Do you ever get attached to possessions?

I'm busy selling a bunch of my things to raise some cash for a new laptop. One of the things I've decided to sell is my movie projector. I dont' want to sell it, but hey, I need the scrilla, so it's gotta go. Out of all the possessions I'm selling, this is the only thing I'm sad to see go. I don't know why. Not very buddhist of me.

Absolute no prize if you can name the movie (screened on my, soon to be former, projector) in the picture.

Dinner

Went out with Jenny, my parents and my aunty for a tasty meal at an Italian restaurant. It was a 'farewell' kinda thing which added an extra pinch of festivity to the proceedings. My parents even sprung for a bottle of Bollinger champagne....the crazy mofos. Just for the record; I ate.... Oysters, crab linguini and cheescake.

I am really looking forward to exploring all the different foods that I can fit into my gob while I'm in Korean. It's going to be a food adventure.

Flying

I have a fear of flying. I don't know where it came from but it's definitely here. When I was younger I flew quite a few times without any problem, infact, I think I enjoyed it. In 2004 I went on a trip to New York...everything was different. Panic, sweaty palms, shaking, heavy breathing...it was all kinds of crappy. I was a wreck in the departure lounge, I almost turned around and walked the other way when we were boarding the plane. The take off was horrible. The flight was nervy. The landing was a relief. Then 1 week later I had to go through it all again. I have not been on a plane since.

This fear is a big problem for me, so I'm tackling it head on. I paid £14.95 to download a self-hypnosis mp3 from McKenna.com

I've gone through it a few times now and I think I feel less nervous about air travel. It's a little tricky to concentrate sometimes when Paul sounds like a sex pest local DJ ("Relax. Feel your shoulders sinking down. Yeah, that's it.") but hopefully it's doing the business. The real test of course is when I get on the plane to Korea.

Fingers crossed

Mike

Stacks

I'm trying to sort through some of my things at the moment. I need to sell some stuff so that I can afford to buy a new laptop. So my place is just piles of DVDs, gadgets and other un-needed possessions. I'm a natural hoarder, so its fighting my natural urges to be parting with anything. I just keep telling myself that it'll all be worth it when im stroking my shiney, shiney new lappy.

I'm testing the photo feature on here. I had to use my camera phone because I havent got a memory card for the spiffy new camera my girlfriend got me for Christmas. The quality of pics will improve soon.

Han

It's just over 2 weeks until I fly to Korea. It kinda feels like I'm in limbo at the moment.Like I'm between lives.

I have most of my paperwork done and TaLK are organising the flights and whatnot, so I don't have much to do in that regards. All I have to do is get busy selling a bunch of stuff that I won't be taking with me so that I can afford to buy a new laptop. Fingers crossed I can raise the dough before I go.

Man, I was really hoping my first blog post would be really interesting. I guess it kind of sums up the state of my life so far. Hopefully it's the calm before the storm. A nice storm though.