Happy Thanksgiving

I was lucky enough to talk to my family over the internet yesterday. On Thanksgiving weekend, while the rest of my family gathered in Tennessee, I was able to join them from my couch in South Korea. Thanks to a free phone call from my computer, over the internet, using Skype I was able to see and talk with them as if I was there. Well, as if I was there and my eyes worked like an old vhs camcorder. But it's amazing the things we can do today. Thanksgiving is a day we are supposed to give thanks for all that we have and sometimes you don't realize what you have until you step away from it. You don't have to step away as far as South Korea, but I've gained a little more perspective of what I have and I would like to give thanks to some (impossible to do all) of those things today.

1. I am thankful for a family that loves me, and not just my direct family but all of my extended family and close friends. I was amazed to hear about Owen Wilson's suicide attempt a number of weeks back. I couldn't believe that someone with everything, who all the world loved for no other reason than simply being himself could want to end it all. His act made me realize, more than ever, that you can have everything, anyone you want, the adoration of millions, but it's nothing if you don't have people close to you who you love, and who love you. Your family should love you not because you are handsome or pretty, or funny or smart, or rich and famous but just because you are you; for that is something that will never fade.

2. I am thankful for my blog readers. :) Haha, obviously this is a bit of kissing up, but since most of the people who read this blog are my family, maybe it's not so ridiculous that this is so high on my list. But honestly, everyday I check to see how many people have visited my blog and it brings a smile to my face. Rachel and I argue over who has visitors from eccentric countries. It's inspiring to think that anyone would want to read the writing of a normal guy from Jersey. But thank you to those who do. I will try my best to keep you up to date on what I'm up to, while doing what I can to make you laugh, think, and feel entertained. Special thanks to my readers who have added their names and pictures to my map.

3. I am thankful for having a good job. Shinjin has really embraced me and made me feel comfortable in a foreign land. My job affords me a nice apartment, food, all of the essentials of life, vacations, and the luxury of not being able to understand all of the office gossip.

4. I am thankful for being an American. If you're Canadian, that doesn't mean I'm happy that I'm not from somewhere else. I just think we should all be happy about where we came from...if we were lucky enough to be born free. Korea is one of the countries still trying to hold onto the idealistic view of America: the land of opportunity, freedom, and equality. And while the rest of the world may have forgotten that America, I'm proud that my country was once the place for the whole world to go for a second chance at life. I look forward to the day we can be that place again too.

5. I'm thankful for double stuffed Oreo's...need I say more?

6. I am thankful for being able to work in two of the most expensive cities on the planet, New York City and Seoul. I am truly spoiled in that matter.

7. I am thankful for today, tomorrow and yesterday.

8. I am thankful for sports.

9. I am thankful for Halloween; a day when men can dress like morons and women can dress like their naughty fantasies and no one is looked down upon.

10. I am thankful...very thankful.




What are you thankful for?

No Trick But With Many Treats to Come

This is not a trick. My site is now an actual link on a travel site called TouristClick.com. It's partially hidden but only seconds after clicking the "Travel Blog" link, then clicking "Asia Travel", and lastly "South Korea"...Whop there it is! Rachel seems to think this is the beginning of something big for my blog, but I don't share the same enthusiasm for self(blog) growth. I do on the other hand know that TouristClick.com is going to blow up atfer catching some of this blogs traffic runoff. Go ahead check it out. It's fine with me, I won't be jealous.
Once your done with that I have some Halloween photos if you want to check them out. Halloween weekend was a really fun one because there wasn't just a Halloween celebration but Rachel's birthday, and Kristy's going away party celebrations too.



That's all for now but stay tuned because I've got a lot of interesting things planned coming up to blog about: Hot Karl (aka Cap'n Karl) will be visiting Seoul for New Years, footballs sent to Korea, the best bathroom in Seoul, corporal punishment, Jersey boys going "Down Under", etc...
I've also gone and added slide shows to old posts if your interested in looking back...but if you are, make sure you look at the last one and watch Zeitgeist.

Scary Good- Zeitgeist the Movie

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you've had your fill of candy, costumes, and corny Halloween emails by now, I know I have, so instead of just putting up your everyday run-of-the-mill Halloween posting I've decided to scare you in a completely different way. I recently came across a scary movie on the internet. No, it's not Saw 4 or anything like that. You can take all the cliched scary movie images out of your head right now. This movie isn't scary like the way "The Shining" is scary (in the traditional sense of causing fear), it isn't scary the way the movie "Splinter" is scary either (possibly the worst acted, worst directed, ill conceived screenplays ever put together made it frighteningly bad), nope, this movie is scary because it makes you think. The film I'm talking about is called Zeitgeist.

Being in Korea I have no idea of this films popularity, but I hadn't heard of it, so I wanted to share it with you. It is a documentary about religion, 9/11, and the US economy. It is also a conspiracy theory movie. I have never been a big fan of conspiracy theories, or the people who preach the concreteness of them, but when done well, they can make great films. The website says it was made to inspire people to start looking at the world from a more critical perspective and to understand that very often things are not what the population at large think they are. I am not saying that I agree with everything in this film, but I am saying that I'm happy I heard it what it had to say. And the more I hear about it, the more I like it.

The website also says it was made as a non-profit film. I love the idea that someone wanted to get their point of view out there so much, that they would do it for no monetary gain. So you can download it, watch it on it's website, YouTube, Google video, or right here, and it's all legal.

This is a full length film though, and at 1 hour and 56 minutes long, I suggest you watch it on the largest format possible, without interruption. I can not imagine you will be disappointed. I stayed up till 4 in the morning watching it the first time. My coworker, Rachel, stayed two hours late after work to watch it, and I thought nothing short of magical chocolate geyser going off in the school gym could have done that. Another person I told to watch it said he emailed the link to all of his friends proclaiming "if you don't like this film, I'll send you $10", and I don't think there has ever been any precedence of a hippy saying he'll pay out money without gripe for anything before. So what I'm saying is I thought it was good, and the people I've shown it to have thought so to. SO CHECK IT OUT!

P.S. - Zeitgeist is defined in the dictionary as the spirit of the time; general trend of thought or feeling characteristic of a particular period of time. The first think I did after hearing the name was look it up, so I thought I'd save you the effort.