Thanksgiving.

I went to a Thanksgiving dinner at a nearby church last night. I had some corn, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, macaroni, and pumpkin pie. I also tried some sweet potato casserole for the first time. It's a Southern specialty. I liked it.
I do think I have a lot to be thankful for.
I got the idea to write a list of things to be thankful for from another blogger friend. I am thankful for:

1. loved ones


2. the opportunity to travel


3. rainbows, prisms, crystals


4. my cats


5. the smell of the ocean


6. Christmas lights


7. snowflakes


8. Crocheting, knitting and other handicrafts


9. bookstores and libraries


10. incense


11. art museums and galleries


12. vintage films


13. vintage photography


14. sandy beaches
    
15. sunsets and sunrises (I want someday to see the aurora borealis or aurora australis)


16. making new friends


17. learning martial arts


18. playing musical instruments


19. being accepted into graduate school


20. walking, talking, seeing, hearing, touch, taste, smell


21. Music: nearly any kind


22. Having a support system here in Korea that is like family


23. Flowers of all kinds. I love botanical gardens a lot.

Sabzi art

I love this man's art. I love all the pinks and reds in it.


"The Crossing"

"Temptation"

"Sonata"

"Two Dimensions"

Mind Control, George Carlin on

This is from a series of videos called "The Arrivals" on Youtube. This is about mind control in the media. Explicit language.

Dr. Seuss artwork

Max Perutz quote

Max Perutz won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1962 for discovering the third-dimensional structure of hemoglobin. He still didn't understand how hemoglobin carried oxygen throughout the body. He still pondered that thought. At the prize ceremony he stated:
"Please forgive me for presenting, on such a great occasion, results which are still in the making. But the glaring sunlight of certain knowledge is dull, and one feels most exhilarated by the twilight and expectancy of dawn".
Perutz lived to be 87 years old and worked long after he could have fully retired. He was always looking to discover new things.

That's what I want to do, never stop exploring and pondering.

How to feel better about yourself

1. Stop worrying about what others think.
2. Do things because you want to.
3. Give up the image.
4. Know what makes you unique.
5. Be clear about what makes you happy.
6. Know your emotional triggers.
7. Act on what you know is right.
8. Have an opinion and express it.
9. Let others see you.
10. Never apologise for being you.

I miss the good cartoons

When I was a kid I used to come home from school and watch Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures. I still remember a lot of the episodes I saw. I don't think the cartoons they make now are as good. Yu-gi-oh and Pokemon don't cut it.
Pinky and the Brain were my favourite characters from Animaniacs. The two lovable mice that want to take over the world were funny. I loved how Brain would often say "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" Of course Pinky, the dimwit, would always say something irrelevant like "yes, sure, how would we get pink tutus for both of us?" Those were the days.
Here's Pinky and the Brain singing "Brainstem" which is about brain anatomy.


Here is Plucky Duck singing about arcade games to Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy" and "Russian Dance".

Some very big instruments

Contrabass saxophone blues


Contrabass flute


Sub-contrabass flute!! OH MY!!! There is supposedly only one in the world.

Contrabassoon



"Everything Went Numb" on contralto clarinet


Contrabass Sarrusophone
I think this is so funky.


Contrabass French Horn:

What is Success?

I used an essay topic for my higher level students this week. It was a discussion on what makes a successful life. It used cooking as a metaphor for a recipe for a successful life. As people like different cuisines, they also enjoy different lifestyles. What would be an interesting life for one person would be boring for someone else. We all have an idea of what is a recipe for success, and we have different proportions of things we want in life. Some of us want more education, others more travel, etc.
I asked the students what was most important to them for success. Most of them said "Money". There were many girls who said "Family". It shows the different values of the sexes here. We agreed that education is important to reach goals. Education is highly valued in this culture.
I thought about what I have deemed success. I must be honest with myself.
1. Travel. Ever since I was a young child I have wanted to travel the globe.
2. Education. I would like to pursue advanced degrees. I know I have the brains for it, I just need to make myself do it.
3. Having relationships. I do want to have good times with friends. I want to be able to talk about different things. Having support is also good.
4. I also would like a good spiritual life as well.

Hmmm. I do have to think about what sort of proportions I want in my recipe for life.

Yellow Belt

I got my yellow belt today.

Why Why Why

Today I heard from an old classmate from middle school. My former classmate dropped out of high school because she got pregnant. Thankfully, she later got a job with an ambulance crew. She is a single mother with three daughters. Her oldest child has leukemia. She is going through lots of chemotherapy. Shame. The father has nothing to do with his children and never sends any money. This is the message as was typed:

"i found him, and talked for a little. i asked him flat out if she ever need bonemarow would he ever help. his answer was pretty much if i don't have to pay child support."
"ive realized as a single parent that sometimes its better not to have the other one around. I just have to find a way to tell destine when she gets older that her dad knew that she was going through cemo. and could care less."

How cold. It disgusts me how someone could be so uncaring. Not sending any money is despicable, yet showing little care to see if he can help with marrow donation is beyond that. Any good father would quickly find out if he's a match so he could help her if he had to.

It reminds me of my father. He left when I was two years old. Really, I wasn't yet two, it was nine days before my birthday. He never made any contact except to later say that the divorce was finalised and he was getting married to his new woman.

I met up with my sperm donor, er "father" when I was 21. Some relatives from that side of the family worked at the college I attended. He came to visit them, and that's how I got to finally meet him. He acted all happy to see me, but I could tell it was a facade. I did get to talk a little to him, it did feel good, yet I knew that I would never see him again after that. I haven't. The e-mails stopped after a few months. I never cried over it, yet two weeks after the meeting I shaved my head completely bald.

I do believe it's better not to have someone around who doesn't care.

Yesterday

Yesterday I went to the doctor at Hoegi between classes and had my stitches removed. I had a biopsy done the week before to see what my skin condition was. The doctor said it's psoriasis. I still have some of it on my upper arms and legs, trunk, and face. I have been wearing cover-up on my face and wearing enough other makeup to sort of detract attention from the marks on my cheeks.
I went back to taekwondo after being gone for nearly two weeks. I went to the second class. I felt a bit out of step because I was very tired. I am still a white belt, so it will still take some time to get very skilled at everything. I found that two people are leaving the dojang. One young man is going to the military. I recalled that he told me that before. Also, an American woman is leaving too. I was surprised to find that out. She decided to test for her black belt that day. We all stayed later for her to test. She did get her black belt. I could tell she was nervous. She tried again and again to break 5 boards with her fist, and succeeded in breaking three of them. I am happy that she got her black belt. It's great to get a black belt in Korea. I think it's something I would like to do.
We all had some fun with the boards later, fooling around with them and breaking the pieces of previously broken ones. I got to break my first board. A friend held it and I struck it with my fist. I am pleased that I broke the board on my first try.

Canon of the Three Stars

This is an arrangement by the Japanese composer Isao Tomita. This video has pictures from The Little Prince. It is one of the best children's stories of all time.

Things to do When I Visit the USA

There are some things I want to do when I visit the USA for two weeks over December/January. First, I want to go through my things. I want to get rid of some clothes and books that I won't use. I want to see if I can sell some of the books at the largest bookstore in the world--The Yantic Book Barn. It has 300,000 new and used books. I am sure it's like going into the world's largest candy store.
I also want to go to Victoria's Station Cafe, my old haunt. I know I want to sit by their fireplace and pick up random things from their bookshelves, most likely a Harvard Classic or a National Geographic.
I do want to go to my home church and see the church members that I have known for most of my life. I will be happy to see them. They have been like my real family.
I do know I will go to Boston with my sister and my friend Michelle. I want to go see her. I am not sure what we will do, probably eat at Uno's or Bertucci's (Boston has great Italian food) and maybe go to the theatre or a museum.
I do want to go to New York City if I can. I really like Manhattan. I think I'd want to go to Times Square and some other attractions. Truthfully, there is so much in New York City that I want to see and do that I would have to spend many weeks there to do it all.
Some ideas are:
The Hayden Planetarium: It has an IMAX on the ocean off South Africa's coast, poisoned arrow toad vivarium, butterfly exhibit...
The Morgan Library: It has special Puccini and William Blake exhibits.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA): There are some of Monet's "waterlily" paintings on display.
The Neue Gallery: There is an exhibit called "From Klimt to Klee" that's on until February.
It all depends on what other people with me want to see.
Some things I eventually want to see there are Ellis Island, The Jewish Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum of the Moving Image, The photography museum, The Museum of Sex, and The Cloisters (which is a recreation of a medieval monastery), and some botanical gardens there.