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December 29th, 2009

12:36 pm - My Experience with FF ( My Experience with Final Fantasy ) We had the company dinner last night. I JUST got back around 3 AM. We did galbi for dinner and then had karaoke night. Thanks to that, my jacket now smells like a mix between galbi, alcohol, and cigarette smoke. Absolutely disgusting. I was the only one not drinking (because I don't drink). I'm curious to see if they all have massive hang-overs tomorrow.... Current Mood: apathetic Tags: ff, rl, square enix, squeenix, videogames

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December 28th, 2009

08:52 pm - Christmas Package! So I got my package from my family yesterday. The size was huge and the shipping price made me want to cry. Why, oh, why, do they insist on sending me packages? But anyway, it was a nice surprise. They even wrapped all the stuff so I could have "presents" to open. Anyway, here's the swag I got. 2 boxes of swiss cake rolls 2 boxes of Nerds candy 1 recycled candy cane with old people candy ^^;;; 1 box of Voortman sugar wafer cookies 2 fun size pack of skittles 2 boxes of hot chocolate mix a pack of Office Max white board markers 3 multi-color white board markers with erasers on the other end (black, red, blue) a Christmas fleece throw blanket a scarf, gloves, and hat combo a Christmas card from my grandparents a Christmas card from my eldest sister and her boyfriend, plus $20 USD a Christmas card from my older brother and his wife, plus $20 USD the church newsletter with my article in it (per my request) I think I'm going to save the money for when I get back to America, and then I can buy a videogame. I'm thinking either Muramasa or the new Harvest Moon game. But probably Muramasa. Anyway, I was soooooo excited about the markers. Yes, the markers. Korean markers, or at least the ones here we use, are made of fail. They're the kind you have to constantly refill, and they leak all over the place. And while the ink will come off your hands, it does NOT come off your clothes. But the ones I got from home are more marker like, so no leakage there. I requested a copy of my church's newsletter because I wanted to see how my article looked and people kept forgetting to scan it for me. I thought it was a little funny that they captioned one of my pictures as belonging to both Ashley, another girl from our church who's in Korea, and me when it was me and my training buddies hanging out in Seoul. Heck, it wasn't even MY picture to begin with. I got it from facebook. I hadn't realized how long and rooted in information my newsletter was until I read the two newsletters side by side and realized that I liked to ramble a lot. But apparently a lot of people liked my article, which focused primarily on my experiences with Korea as well as the differences between America and Korea. I tried to give them what I thought they wanted, and I guess it worked out pretty well considering all the compliments. They're opening a new class up at work during my free period, which means I might be bumped back up to 27 hours. Makes me excited! Also, Korean classes start January 18. I'm also excited about that. At least then I won't have Koreans mad at me for not learning their super special awesome language! Speaking of which, Happy wants me to be on the evangelism team, and also to give my personal testimony in Korean on my birthday. And I'm like, personal testimony? *gulps* Is that really something everyone has? I don't know. I'm going to have to think long and hard about both and see what God tells me what to do. Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: Cars- Our Town Tags: christmas, korea, rl, xmas

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December 27th, 2009

06:26 am - DNAngel Stage 4, Volume 2 Scanlation Link and other stuff Mediafire link (13.69 MB): http://www.mediafire.com/?hywkkizwz5j WIll also be on OneManga and MangaFox soon. The size of the file is so small because the chapter is short. Seriously, 16 pages? But it's better than no chapter. It's an interesting chapter, to say the least. Poor Dai-chan is in trouble again. XD This was a nice easy chapter to translate. I only had one minor setback, and that was due to me being too unsure of myself again. ANYWAY, today it snowed. Actual snow. REAL snow. People were out and about with their umbrellas, treading carefully down the sidewalks, trying not to slip on the half inch of snow that caked the concrete. I don't think they have plows here. I haven't seen any anyway. Well, the snow will probably be all gone by tomorrow anyway. But snow is good. It means it's not too cold. I could have walked with my coat unzipped, even though I was only wearing a t-shirt underneath. I went to another Let's Learn Korean session today. Interestingly enough, I am expected to listen to a word and then repeat it just minutes later as if I know it by heart. 早すぎる、先生！ Maybe in a few months I'll be able to do that, but for now it's just painful. But it is helpful, and my reading skills are improving. The interesting thing is that I can read the symbols by themselves, but when they put them all together I get confused and have to sit there and sound everything out. I must look like a little child learning her alphabet for the first time! In a way, I guess I am. In addition to my Sunday Korean lessons, I also signed up to take classes at the Talk House, a foreign language learning "school" set up by the government. I will be going on Monays and Wednesdays. Class is from 10:00 to 11:30. I am hoping it will help and that my Japanese abilities help me along the way. I'm feeling a little better today. I wasn't sure if I was feeling up to going to church last night, but I remembered how everyone came to my house and sang carols to me and realized I'd be letting them down if I stayed home. Granted, that's not the BEST reason to get my butt to church, but oh well. Anyway, it was all right until they started talking about Korean again. Most of the people are pretty impressed with my overall pronunciation and by the fact that I can actually say hello and thank you in Korean, but other people are not so impressed. 'You've been here for four months and know nothing beyond hello and thank you??' is the reaction I get from some people. I feel like responding with my own snark response, but most of the time I just smile and say I'm planning on taking Korean classes soon and would have liked to earlier, but there were no positions open. That is, by the way, the truth. Mostly. I don't want to make enemies here.  Another week of teaching. Can it please be next Saturday already? Just found out that Kekkaishi got licensed. Why did no one tell me this!? I knew the manga was licensed, but the anime? Wow. I've been wanting this to get licensed forever. But it's been licensed by VIZ... I wonder how the English dub will turn out... Current Mood: meh Current Music: Michelle Branch- All You Wantedw Tags: dna, dnangel, scanlations

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December 25th, 2009

03:16 pm - Christmas ^_^ Merry Christmas, everyone! ^_^ And on that note, I have to go to work. X_X Current Location: work Current Mood: working Tags: rl, work, xmas

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December 23rd, 2009

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December 22nd, 2009

10:26 am - WRPGs vs JRPGs Trying to argue that JRPGs >>>>>> WRPGs with some gamers nowadays is just pointless. They just don't understand that it's different strokes for different folks. But really, I can never figure out why anyone would want to play as a droid... Had a GREAT day at work. Current Mood: amused Current Music: Miko Fukuhara- Let It Out Tags: jrpgs, rl, videogames, work, wrpgs

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December 20th, 2009

07:03 am - Church day So today was good and bad. Good because I woke up to a blanket of light snow. The sun was out, there was no wind, and it wasn't even that cold. And then the snow. It had snowed enough to make everything look pretty, but it wasn't heavy enough to impair my walking to the subway station for church. We had our Christmas service today, which was nice. We had a short sermon, then some people did songs. After that we played this dumb balloon game which I lost on purpose so I could get out of doing it, and then exchanging presents. I got a bottle of lotion, which is good because I needed to buy more. ( Complaints from a Foreigner ) Agh, I feel SO much better now that I've gotten that off my chest. I was thinking on the way to church about all the things I will miss when I go back to American, mainly the subway and all the shopping areas, but what I mentioned in the cut is definitely not one of them, Koreans are incredibly pushy, and I really don't like that. I grew up in a family that was taught to be polite, so it's hard to refuse them even if I don't want to do it. I'm going to have to work on that, since I obviously can't act like that here. Here's hoping the rest of the week goes how I want it. XD Current Mood: aggravated Current Music: Yui- Again Tags: korea, rl

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December 19th, 2009

12:06 pm - Rearranging the room So I got a new couch the other day and decided that once again it was time to rearrange the furniture. And so I did. So now I have little room dividers. The TV has its own couch, as does the computer. Am I a dork or what. The first area you see when you walk in is the kitchn area, along with the cwasher and drying area. Then beyond the kitchen is the TV room and the computer room. The computer, along with the microwave, is on the left side of the room, facing the windows, and the TV area is on the right side. My friend gave me his extra surge protector which is big enough to stretch from one end of the wall to the other, so I've been using that for my TV and PS2. So thanks to that I no longer have to keep switching plugs whenever I want to play the PS2. I am very grateful for that. My room is still upstairs, but I don't actually sleep up their. The mattress is too hard. *sleeps on the couch* Tonight we went to Noraebang, or Karaoke, I sang Rie Fu's Life is Like a Boat as well as Hyde's Cape of Storms. I was happy to see that the Japanese parts had furigana over some of the more difficult kanji, which made singing it a lot easier. It's been a while since I listened to that song and I didn't know all the kanji, so it was much easier to sing along. I was a little irked when one of the other guys tried to sing along with all the Japanese parts, so I got him back by cutting in during Gangster's Paradises. Why on earth he was singing that....I have no idea. I saw a bunch of j-pop songs, including Karma, Yatta!, Byaku True Light, and eX Dream. I might practice some of them and go again sometime before this year is up. It's 20,000 per hour, which isn't TOO bad considering they give you a private little room. We've got our church party later today, so bed time for me. Hope everyone has a great day! Current Mood: tired Current Music: Rainbow Connection Tags: karaoke, ps2, rl

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December 16th, 2009

07:34 am - fandom stuff Today I am going to talk about my fandoms to make me feel better about having so much time off from work. Most people would be happy, but it's not like I can every do anything after work even if I do get off early. I'd rather be at work making money than sitting in my apartment doing nothing. Anyhow...talking about fandoms always makes one feel better, so here we go. I'll only talk about two because if I talked more it would take all day. ( Fandom ) My mom is sending me a package from the family and said I could give suggestions. What, oh, what should I ask her to send me? ^__^ I'll have to think long and hard about this one. Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Weird Al Yankovic- I Think I'm a Clone Now Tags: bandai, dnangel, fma, kor, manga, namco, toa, tos, tos:kor, tov, videogames

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December 14th, 2009

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December 12th, 2009

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December 9th, 2009

11:08 pm - 仕事のこと I tried using my debit card last night and it works! I no longer have to worry about going to the bank to take out money when I need food. Awesome! We were planning on going to Yongsan this weekend, but my friend gave me a call and asked us if we wanted to make kimchi. Kimchi is a Korean staple food. They eat it with everything. Every restaurant you go to gives you kimchi before you even order. I refuse to eat kimchi because I'm boring and I don't like what it's made out of, but that doesn't mean I won't go see how kimchi is made. I have to admit I'm curious. I personally would rather just go to Yongsan and skip out on kimchi altogether, but it's a good cultural experience for me and stuff. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. XD I can go to Yongsan. I can't make kimchi anytime. This week and next I'm getting some extra hours since one of our guys is on vacation in Japan and Taiwan. I'm teaching his Mega class, which I also teach at 7:30...and then the next day as well. So I'll be teaching the SAME class for 6 hours straight and then another 3 tomorrow. I am not looking forward to this... I should be able to quote the answers by the end of it. One thing that's crazy is that I've now officially been away from home for four months. I miss my family, of course, but I'm pretty much resolute on sticking it out. I chose this life, so it's what I've got to deal with it. I wanted to learn to be independent, so I've got to stick to it, right? I've learned a lot about myself though. What I can deal with and what I can't. I realized some of the bad traits I have, as well as the good. For one, I am dirt cheap. I won't buy things unless they are either cheap or on sale. I make enough to splurge, but I never do. I don't even buy snacks, and I used to snack all the time in school. My friends think I'm crazy because I hardly spend money on myself, but then I'll go out and buy a 30 dollar videogame and call it cheap. My priorities are messed up, I guess. But the other problem is that I'm messy. I'm not dirty messy, but I have a bad habit of just leaving stuff be instead of making it look all nice. Bah. I need to really work on that, but I have no energy in the morning. I save it all for work and then lose it after work. Because of that, my house is really only nice looking on the weekend when I can exert my energy instead of losing it to work. Well, on the flip side of being cheap, at least it means I'm saving money. I think I have more money in my Korean bank account than I ever did at a time in my American bank account. It's kind of depressing. It's going to be hard to leave such a well paying job behind, even if it does suck holiday and vacation wise. Well, time for work. Current Mood: blank Current Music: Tomofumi Tanizawa- Kimi ni Todoke Tags: rl, work

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December 8th, 2009

09:17 pm - White Wishes English Version So yesterday I went to the bank to change my account so I could transfer money home. I can also use my card like a debit card, though only in Korea, of course. Link to Mamoritai ~White Wishes~ in English. http://d.hatena.ne.jp/video/niconico/sm9040351 mp3 download: http://www.mediafire.com/?jicztxyyghz I like the Japanese version better. The English is kind of...corny. It focuses a lot on love, where the Japanese focuses more on protecting, which fits Graces' overall theme better. Not sure why they're focusing so heavily on love here when the game's theme is protecting. Bah. Whatever. Got paid yesterday, so this weekend is Yongsan! Here's hoping I can myself a nice mp3 player. Most people here use their cell phones for mp3 players, actually, but I definitely prefer to use my phone as a phone instead of an all out device. Of course, going to try to do some VG shopping as well. ^_^ Wish me luck! Current Mood: discontent Tags: mp3, rl, tog, videogames

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December 6th, 2009

04:27 am - anime recs So our first week ended. My classes went pretty well, but we'll see how next week is. The kids are usually pretty good the first week because they're new, but their behavior may change within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, this time I'll be able to control them better and make it more fun for both me and the students. So recently I've been thinking of buying an R4 for myself. I'm kind of tempted to try to work in a deal with the vendors to get a DS and R4 for $150, but I'm not too sure since I've really been wanting a DSi. I guess I'll do some price comparisons and see if it would be cheap enough to just get an R4. I should feel bad about wanting to buy an R4, but strangely enough I don't at all. That's what happens when you get too used to downloading things, I guess. Speaking of downloading, I'm thinking of starting up on a new anime since I'm totally up to date with FMA Brotherhood. Watching anime after work is kind of my way to crash and catch up on Japanese listening practice, but now that I'm all up to date I need something to keep me busy until the next eps are ready for download. But the problem is that I have no idea what to watch. I want something that's about 26 eps. I don't really want to watch shows with 50+ eps, especially not shows with a lot of filler eps. I hate fillers. Anyway, if anyone has any good recommendations, I'd be more than happy to hear them. Here's my anime list if anyone is interested: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/feder Current Mood: bored Current Music: Simon and Garfunkel- Sound of Silence

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December 2nd, 2009

11:33 am - mp3 players So I'm looking at......... THIS http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2007/07/cowon-iaudio-7-review.php or this http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2009/11/cowon-iaudio-e2-review.php I think I might get the second because it's so freaking cute! What do you guys think? I saw a stray calico today, meowing for food. I wanted to take it home with me, but it would not go. So sad... Current Mood: curious Tags: mp3

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December 1st, 2009

08:15 pm - Next DNAngel chapter link HERE DNAngel chapter linkL 4shared link (30 MB): http://www.4shared.com/file/163334945/61983264/DNAngel_Stage_4_Volume_1.html Here you go! Hope you enjoy. The scanlation looks great. Muchos kudos to innoc3nt_sorrow for taking the time to scanlate it. It looks much better than what I could do. Half day today and then I'm going to head over to Yuri's to hang out. I've had four classes so far. Mega seems to be ridiculously small, with only two students. It kind of makes me wonder if they made that class up because I had to have 24 hours. Well, no matter. We have fun with just the three of us, and it's much easier during the thinking project. I actually get to sit down and still do my job! The other classes are bigger sized. EC4 is 12, Giga is 15, and then the other Mega is 5 kids. I like my Mega class with two kids the best so far, though it's not fair to judge after only one day. So I started Charles on Full Metal Alchemist and the guy is addicted. At first I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure if he'd like it, but he's over every chance he can, watching the eps. We're at the ep before the Night of the Chimera, which makes me really sad since I hate that episode. We're watching the show in English. I had never heard Nina's English voice before, but it makes me want to punch something. It's just...bad. Each of the characters have their moments when the voice acting fails, but for the most part it's pretty good. Vic has a hard time doing kids' voices, but other than he's really good. I was most impressed with Al's voice since his actor was just a kid when he played the role. I'm going to miss him in Brotherhood, if I ever get around to watching that in English. Just two more days until the weekend! Current Mood: thoughtful Current Music: John Mayer- Daughters Tags: anime, dn, dnangel, fma, manga, rl, scanlating

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November 29th, 2009

09:43 am - Amazing discoveries in Heartgold I've been playing a bit of pokemon today. I beat two gyms under an hour. Despite that, they were actually pretty challenging. I was just stupid and went out of order with the gyms and had ended up leveling up my pokemon immensely high for a certain gym. But I actually had two gyms to go before that. XD Gold is great in that way though. It's not as strict with gyms as pokemon red was (you can't leave the town until you beat Misty!). Anyway, I've made two amazing discoveries. So amazing I had to catch them on film. Suicune chilling on an island Does this mean I don't have to chase Suicune to the ends of the earth to get one anymore? It's as easy as catching Zapdos or Moltres? And I don't even have to go through a stupid maze or mountain. Nevermind, he'll probably just run away the moment I touch him... Cats like water? Ok. Let's examine this picture. Entei is in the water. I was surfing happily until I got into a battle. Irritated, I expected another Tentacool or Goldeen or whatever, but instead I came face to face with Entei. What is he doing in the water? He's a fire type! It's weird enough fighting with Quagsire in battles in the water since I'm kind of using him to surf (I guess my guy just takes out his floaties and floats there while the pokemon battles since he obviously can't swim). To make matters worse, I keep finding him in this one area. He won't leave! It makes me wonder if the cats now just sit in one area. Either that, or my game is glitched. Well, no matter. I'm not at a point where I can catch him anyway. New classes tomorrow. I don't want to go back to work. >_ Current Mood: amused Current Music: Saek Uura- My Mirai Tags: hg/ss, nintendo, pkmn, video games

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November 28th, 2009

09:07 am - Thanksgiving So today was Thanksgiving. We all got together at one of my co-workers and had a party. We played Apples to Apples and feasted on chicken and mashed potatoes. I was a little disappointed with the potatoes because they tried to dress them up with different flavors and blech. It wasn't bad, but I prefer normal mashed potatoes myself. Afterwards, we watched football on TV. Well, they watched football and I just talked. I was kind of jealous that they could stream TV from their computer to the TV, so I bought a plug and tried it myself, but I can't get it to work. Figures, right. I guess Linux fails again. If I can't get it to work, I may just find someone to give them to since I can't return them. >_< Next paycheck I may look into getting an mp3 player. I found two programs that will manage music for me, Hipo for ipod and KZenExplorer for zen mp3 players. What I really want is a plug and drag mp3 player, but we'll see. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I already have a list of songs I want to put on it. *lame* Tomorrow is church and then Korean lessons. I'm not really looking forward to going to Korean lessons, to be honest. I am a little irked that even though I was the one requesting it, they are not working on my level but a higher level. It makes me feel really stupid and in all actuality, it makes me not want to learn. But I feel like I have to learn something, you know? Bah. 教会まで全然行きたくない. >_< Korean is much easier if you learn it from a Japanese perspective, but she's not really teaching it that way to us. She's more teaching us phrases. I wish I could give her some pointers, but I don't want to be rude, you know. Current Mood: annoyed Current Music: Miho Fukuhara- Let it Out Tags: computers, korean, linux, mp3 player, rl, ubuntu

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November 27th, 2009

11:28 pm - DNAngel "Angel" Chapter Translations DNAngel translations: http://www.sendspace.com/file/fpjb9h Definitely a labor of love. There are still some parts I don't like, but they're not important enough to make me hold off posting. Anyway, the full scanlation should be out soon. I'll post the link when it's all finished. Going to a Thanksgiving Party today. There goes my weekend... Current Mood: accomplished

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November 26th, 2009

10:44 pm - compy troubles and work Happy Belated Thanksgiving, everyone!! So I finished reading DN. There are still a few lines I'm kinda shaky about or skipped altogether, so I'm going to have to look at them a little later and try to piece together what's going on. Then I mail them off to the scanlator to get them scanlated all prettily. I'll post the scanlations here when we're finished. I haven't translated anything for a while, so it feels good. And now I know how to say "curator" in Japanese (such useful knowledge). I had a bit of a scare last night when my internet refused to work. All the proper buttons were flashing, but my computer wouldn't connect. I tried resetting the box, but that didn't work. So I gave up and just turned the box and computer off and went to bed. Woke up late this morning and tried it again and it worked fine. Whoot. Gave me a scare there. I was worried I'd have to call tech support and try to set up an appointment to get my internet fixed, which is a pain since I don't speak Korean. It worked the last time, but it was super confusing and I wouldn't look forward to doing it again. We got our student evaluated progress reports the other day. I was being totally pessimistic and thought I was the person in the last spot, whose ratings were much lower, but it turns out I am above both of the recruits that came at the same time that I did. Granted, I'm still on the bottom of the ladder, but that's ok. What else do they expect from new employees? And it's not like they do anything to help us become better teachers. Anyway, the last day in Tera was good. Some of the guys were bad so I moved them, but for the most part the class was good. I attribute that to the girls. I found that the guys are usually pretty bad or rile each other up, but the girls are usually pretty good. This is not true in all cases, of course. My one giga class is the complete opposite, with the girls being bad and the guys doing all the work. This week is UCC week at school. The kids are having a contest with all the other CDI hagwons to see who can make the best video. We got sweatshirts out of the deal, though the head switched with me because my shirt was too big. I guess he switched with me since I am the smallest person at CDI except for our temps. I guess that's a compliment? Today is the last day of this term. So next week we get a slew of new kids. Whoot. I'm looking forward to the new faces. All my EC2 kids are going to be sad to learn I'm not their teacher (some might be happy, actually). The kids keep asking me what classes I'll be teaching next term, but I'm not allowed to disclose that information with them in case of a schedule change. I've got the Thanksgiving Day party tomorrow. I'm providing the non-alcoholic beverages, along with Charles. The party is tomorrow from 2:30 to who knows when. I'll probably try to sneak out early since they'll be watching football on the TV. Or at the very least I'll bring my DS to keep me company. I don't mind playing some sports, but I can't say I enjoy watching them. Well, I need to level up my party anyway. This will provide a good opportunity to. XD Current Mood: exhausted Current Music: SID- Uso Tags: dn, dnangel, manga, rl, translating, work

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