Korea's First Female President

yesterday was the presidential election day in Korea.....

and Korea will now have a female president, Park Keun Hae....

she really left an impression during the national debates before the election....

that impression probably led to most young voters going the other way.... well, the older generation has pulled thru.... all those loyal followers of Park's father.... who helped to boost the korean economy immensely before being assassinated...

well, since the election is done and dusted... i hope there is a bright 5 years for Korea.... i hope the new president surprises everyone by being much much much much much much smarter than she had shown in the past....

-.-

retirement of heroes...

last night, a korean super-celebrity... who 'retired' just over a year ago after being caught out for tax fraud, returned to TV amidst mixed comments from the people.... just to blow that into insignificance...

two of my childhood idols announced their retirement.... Chan Ho Park, and Ricky Ponting.... im not sure if it is a blessing that i get to see Ricky Ponting's last test match starting today....

personally, i would have liked him to play on... despite him saying that there are plenty of other players who could replace him in the spot and make runs.... im not sure.... they have been trialled and tested... and nobody has really put their hand up.... ah well... i hope he makes some good runs at the WACA in his final test... even a 96 to equal his first test at the WACA in 1995 would be good....

Chan Ho Park... huge slide in form since leaving the Dodgers.... but still an ambassador for baseball in Korea... i thought it was awesome that he came back to korea and played in the domestic league even knowing that the team he played for would struggle throughout the season... and it was great seeing him pitch at such a high level too.... honourable, respectable figure....


cheers to both legends~!!

Cartes 2012 - Paris

when i changed jobs in sept last year, i definitely thought many times about where this job would take me, and what i would have at the end of it....

so far in 14 months, it has taken me to half a dozen new places, and now, i can at least tell people in this industry that i was lucky enough to speak at cartes....

it's probably not such a big deal for the high ranked execs, and VP's and CEO's.... but from the lineup of speakers over the 3 days, i was clearly batting above my average in Paris last week...

work-wise, it was a pretty good week in Paris last week.... and the response and interest to the topic that i presented has been keeping me busy this week...

having said that, im not sure if it's because i had just the one afternoon to go sightseeing around paris... but im not sure if paris was really a good fit to me.... for one, i definitely am not a fan of french cuisines.... im not a wine drinker.... and im not a artsy museum guy....

i know PSG played a champions league match while i was there, and would have loved to head out to that... but i didnt.....

i would have also loved to stay the weekend there to watch France vs Wallabies.... but the wallabies lost 33-6 or something... so it wouldnt have been fun....

the eiffel tower was as big as i thought it would be, and that was pretty cool....

well... im sure if i stay in this line of work, i will have many more chances to head out to paris... so maybe it'll grow on me... or i'll grow into it....

Armstrong conspiracy~

Lance Armstrong... deemed as a cheat, and stripped of his victories...

One of the most inspiring stories, not just in sport... came back from a battle with cancer, then won the tour de france over and over again....

there were many drug accusations throughout his career, which he denied and denied over and over again.... his tests at the time came up negative.... but now this new-age testing method has caught him out.... testimonies from teammates have ratted him out too....

could've gone down as one of most inspiring athletes in the history of sports, but will now be remembered as one of the greatest cheats in sports..... such a pity....

and just for s#!ts and giggles.... his uncle Neil also has shattered my fragile little mind~~

if they really sent 3 people to the moon in 1969... why cant they make the trip easily with the technology in 2012???

=)

seafood rain~

its been weeks since Typhoon Bolaven passed thru korea..... and its still rolling on thru russia these days....

while it left uprooted trees and fallen powerlines in korea... bolaven left a beach full of washed up fresh seafood~!!!

imagine what would have happened in korea if this happened.... people would crowd the beach with trucks to reap in the seafood and sell it to those who arrive late....

ah... im hungry~

the final four....

from 16 to 8, and now down to 4.....

definitely the "business end" of the season~ i wasnt nervous about the bulldogs losing any matches this year... but now that it's elimination time.... i feel nervous even a day before the match....

as for life outside watching sports.....

dad and sister are in korea this week.... i realised i havent seen my sis for.... 2 years?? hmmm... i dont remember.... but i dont think i've seen her since her wedding....

as for work..... went to the states again this for work.... a week in san francisco.... once again... no site seeing.... so i drove to the golden gate late at night and saw.... fog.... -.-

no matter how tiring it is to adjust to jet lag... at least biz trips leave behind mileage points.... i'll rack up enough soon to visit sydney... ^^

NRL finals time!!!!

it seems like ages since i've felt we are definite premiership chances.... tonight... first step.... 1 vs 4.... altho manly are favourites... thats fine... bulldogs came first for a reason right?

cant focus on anything at work.... ahhhhhhh~~~ bring on the footy!!!! 2 more hours to go!!!! im 'iphone flash' ready..... 3G and Wifi pumping!!!! bring it~!!!!

the competition has been so good~!!!

the olympics has been so good... australia so far hasnt won that many gold... but they are still medalling well....

korea is sitting strong in 4th position and are consistently winning gold.....

it all adds up on my late nights in front of the tv........

Let's the games begin~~!!!

 a round of soccer and the archery ranking rounds have already taken place, but the games are now officially underway.... the opening ceremony failed to keep me awake the entire time.... but mary poppins, mr bean, and 007 skydiving with the queen.... they were awesome.... (yes.... i like mary poppins~~)

then came the athletes... the aussies as usual were all hyped up, lots of jumping, screaming and waving in front of the camera..... then came korea.... the usual under control, happy but bottling all their excitement inside.... then came north korea.... u could say they were exactly the opposite to the aussies...

lighting the flame was a bit of a bummer for me.... it was all good.... until they passed it onto 7 next generation athletes.... it was also good when they did a lap around the stadium... but when they continued on to proceed in lighting the flame... YES, IT WAS A SURPRISE... but not a good surprise.....

during the build up to the opening ceremony, there was constant speculation as to who would light the flame... beckham's name was thrown in there, but his biggest minus was that he was not an olympian.... well... these 7 next generation athletes should also not be considered then.... im sure they will be great athletes, and im sure they will be successful too.... but there are so many heroes, legends, idols.... i think it could have been done better than this.....

ah wells.... no medals involved in ceremonies anyways... if there were medals, sydney still has my vote for gold... ^^

shattered~!!!

ah... not again... not another aussie choking in the final moments of a golfing major....

this time... it was adam scott.... equally as spectacular as greg norman's infamous choke at the US masters...

scott had a 4 shot lead with 4 holes to play... only to bogey every hole, while ernie els birdied the 18th to win the British Open.... congrats to ernie els.... hitting -4 in the back 9 of the final round... on a day where only a handful of players hit under par.....

scott made tee shot errors in the dreaded final 4 holes... still had very makeable par putts on each hole.... only to miss every single one of them -.-

ah well.... dont look too far, just look at ernie els... u can play golf at an elite level for a long time....

im sure an aussie will win the british open again sooner than later....

upset night....

Upset night~~

Italy.... of course, not a weak soccer team by all means.... but the germans have been the in form team of the tournament, and were pouring goals on every team that they play....

2 goals from balotelli in the first half just killed the german's back..... they looked sluggish in the first half... and in the second, they seemed to have thrown the kitchen sink at the itas, but only scored a 92nd minute penalty kick....

that is the least of the upsets tonight tho..... Rafa loses in the 2nd round @ wimbledon... to a no-name guy ranked 100 in the world!!!! WOW~!!! Lukas Rosol.... won his 4th ever match on grass.... couldnt even buy a win in the qualifiers in previous years... then now beats nadal.... unbelievable...

ah.... stayed up all night watching sports.... its going to be a long tiring Friday... -.-

seriously.... what am i going to do when the olympics begin.... in a month!!!! woot woot~~

Euro 2012~~

 

When Euro 2008 was on, i was in yantai, and i watched the games on a big screen with an irish-canadian, welsh-canadian and a couple of russian girls.....

it was also our "reference" test of the big screen before the beijing olympics....

and now, before the london games, euro 2012 is upon us... and this is my "reference" test as to how im going to adjust my sleeping hours so that i can integrate late night tv and a korean office job together...

a few predictions i can give for Euro 2012 is.... portugal will disappoint, spain will choke, and netherlands will win.... and im going to downing cans and cans of Hot Six... (the korean version of Red Bull).....

i wont be surprised if both hosting nations dont make the quaterfinals as well....

in other european sports news.... last night was the day sam stosur was shocked in defeat to sara errani in the french open semi finals..... sure errani is in career best form.... and she's now in the finals for the singles and doubles.... but i really thought this was stosur's best chance of winning another slam....

ah well.... semi-finals not too bad..... lets go win wimbledon and the olympics!!!

cricket season~ in korea....

it may be the heart of the NRL and AFL season in australia... but its cricket season here in korea....

3 matches in... and the ANZIKs are sitting on a mediocre 1 win 2 loss....

our first match against the sri lankans was obviously tough... getting the winter rust out, as well have losing many players from the previous season, and needed time to gel together with the new guys.... bowlers couldnt find a consistent line, and in the end, we got thumped...

2nd match was a total turnaround.... bowlers were great, and we got the opposition out for a cheap score and chased it down with plenty to spare....

on the back of that powerful win, we entered the 3rd match yesterday with alot of confidence.... missing our captain, our top order batting was also missing.... our bowlers once again had the opposition in a hole at 6 for 40-ish... but they still ended up posting 116... which we fell short by about 4 runs....

obviously, it's our team batting that needs improvement.... i myself am only averaging 6 runs, so its time to get down early and hit the nets before the game.... its not often the bowlers are going to dismiss the opposition for less than 120....

anyways... cricket in korea.... it definitely good being around a group of aussies and kiwis to mingle and talk about the rugby, cricket, etc.... sometimes its hard talking to koreans about state of origin... hehe

gut wrenching finale~

it was a disappointing end to the premier league season that was in the making for 3 weeks now....

the final minutes draw against everton.. then the 1-0 loss to man city....

since man city was playing QPR, there wasnt much hope at the start of the matches yesterday... but it was with only stoppage time remaining... man utd, already secured the 1-0 nervous win... and city were 2-1 down.... then the unthinkable...

2 stoppage time goal for man city to miraculously win the premiership....

such bull crust.... joey barton... the red card.... stupidity... uh~~~

the fact that united had their fate in QPR's hands was the problem, but for QPR to also blow 2 late goal... omfg~~

well.. thats sports i guess... and thats how hatred towards one team starts... haha... QPR... i will hate u forever~~ haha

the month of May...

may is the "family month" in korea.... children's day.... parents' day.... teachers' day..... and then in australia, there's mother's day.....

spring is almost non-existent here now... thank you global warming~!! we went from cold a few weeks ago.... we had spring for about 2 days... and now it's "hot"....

hot weather means... ice cream~ beach~ and more importantly, CRICKET!!!

played our first game of the season yesterday... and we got slaughtered.... i got hit on the big toe with a sandshoe crusher.... it was on the whole... an unsuccessful season opener... its ok... it can only get better now....

now that it is May... in australia, it is "rep footy" season.... im gonna get right behind the NSW blues this year... it's time.... we need more bulldogs players in the NSW squad~!!! both morris brothers should be in the team... i dont know why players like B.Stewart and Dugan are being considered when they have been out with injury for weeks, and have yet proven that they are in form.... this is why NSW never changes.... if hayne is selected in the squad... im gonna give up on NSW.... he's legless, injured, out of form and as the newspapers say it... he's playing in slow motion..... he's not the man to pick if u wanna win the series this year....

carney and pearce are a proven combination, and are both in form.... they must be the halves... there is hope as long as they play well....

should be a close series this year~~

so much to do in May.... it is clearly going to be the busiest and most active month for me so far this year.... i hope i can hold everything together and stay in control~

Korean Election....

after an election, in Australia you would usually see the news header "The Nation has Spoken"....

yes... it's compulsory voting in Australia, and there are donkey-voters...

in Korea... u get the whole day off from work....

and you cant vote from outside your registered district... well, at least i don't think you can.....

as a result "Half the Nation has Spoken"..... coz only 53% of the country voted....

they say its a rumour... but only 8% of females in their 20's voted.... not surprising.... they got the day off work!!! what i DO know is that the department stores were packed out and cinemas were almost booked out.....

nice~~~ psht~

still people here love to chit-chat about politics... write posts and replies on the internet about how lame the government is... how corrupt the government is.... yet..... 53% makes the effort to vote....

im not sure if i wrote a post on my blog last year when the Seoul City Mayor vote with regards to a few new policies were voted on.... they didn't pass the minimum vote count, so the result of the vote was disregarded....

nice one..... -.-

only a quarter of the people in their 20's voted, and females made up only 8% of that.... whether this is exact or not.... im sure they are not far off....

luckily enough for Korea.... the election and government policies rarely and barely influence the lives of Koreans.... at least for the people in their 20's... it doesn't.... maybe that's why they didn't vote....

Korean drama's and Korean TV shows influence the way the people in Korea live much much more.... maybe that's why the people in their 20's vote week in week out on 3 different "idol" audition shows....

nice one.... it's moments like this when i wonder if Korea will ever "grow-up".....

on the move....

i've moved.... a decent place... nice and close to a subway station, so i can sleep-in for another 30 minutes in the morning... nice~!!

obviously.... smaller than my last place... but on the whole, so far its ok....

im sure at the pace that i work, unpacking all the boxes will take about 2 weeks... ^^

moving on the weekend is the norm for everyone i guess... but im so easily distracted because there's sports on tv all weekend.... had to sit down to watching the doggies thump the titans on saturday too...

if the doggies lost, im sure i'd be sitting here writing about how crap my new house is and how its jinxed.... but the 30-20 win makes my house seem great.... hmmm.... easily influenced by the result of a footy match... haha

if u didnt see josh morris' try on the weekend, started by benny barba in his own in-goals... i recommend you watch it on youtube.... it was BRILLIANT~~!!

2012.... looking good.... so far..... ^^

the life of living abroad....

it's that time of year.... winter has gone (despite the chill the past 2 days).... spring has come.... and the end of my year in my current house is up...

actually, it was up at the end of the last month, but i was in Barcelona... so i couldnt move beforehand....

now i have to go "house searching" again.... it has to be one of the most boring, tiring, frustrating, and surprisingly depressing thing to do....

i like the size of my current house... but thats all there is to like about it.... seriously....

now looking around for new places... i cant find anything remotely the size of my current place, unless i pay a fortune....

im already paying too much for my current place... thats why i need to move.... when i moved in here a year ago, there were 2 major influential factors.... 1) my old place before here was a $h!#hole, and 2) i was teaching english, so my salary was good....

now... my salary has halved from teaching.... so naturally.... i have to find a place which is cheaper.... hence smaller.... that is probably what makes this move so depressing....

anyways.... on the bright side.... i probably dont have to vacuum or mop the floor as much...

blah..... i hope i find a decent place.... -.-

bring on 2012~!!!

footy is back~ and the doggies have started well with a 22-14 win over the panthers in penrith....

new english recruit james graham looked solid, while benny barba got on the scoring sheet once again....

watching the doggies win was a good way to kick it back and chill at home after arriving back from spain today at 5pm....

i think more of the same tomorrow... stay home, stay in bed.... watch the footy~

..... and the cricket final....

Linsanity~

2 weeks late writing on the blog... but i had to wait to see if he was the real deal..... im convinced now.... Jeremy Lin is a sensation, and he's got the talent to be this good day in, day out....

it is truly an awesome story... doesnt get drafted.... racial discrimination.... picked up by one team... sent to another... plays in a lower grade league.... moves to another team.... sits on the bench... and a series of injuries gives him a sniff of the NBA, and WHAM~!!! plays like a star.... earns himself a second game...

second game... WHAM!!!!

third game... WHAM!!!!

and Linsanity is born.....

lets see how far this Linsanity craze goes..... hopefully, he is really the really down to earth, modest, hard working guy.... and i hope he stays that way....

Harvard... hmmm....... so he must have a lot ticking the right way between the ears too....

alright.... starting to feel jealous... -.-

cold cold cold~

alright... this could be misleading.... that photo wasnt taken by me... nor was it from the news related to how cold it is....

however besides the amount snow on the road.... it has been THAT cold in korea..... for the past couple of days, it has been -17 degrees in the morning... making it just perfect to stay in bed, and want to not go to work.....

we had a few "warm" days where it was around -5.... but its always cold now.... i dont remember the korean winter being this cold... EVER~ the news said something about it being the coldest winter in 50 years or something.... blah~~ i hear that every year....

the snow hasn't piled up like that photo... but it has snowed enough for your shoes to become dirty and for the sidewalks to become an ice rink....

dunno when the cold is going to ease up.... but i hope it does sooner than later....

i heard its been raining all the time in sydney these days too... but i'd rather that depressive weather than this freezing numb weather....

Inspiration Part II

3 weeks into the new year.... the tennis season has started, and a teenager is stealing the attention....

Bernard Tomic is now inside the top 40, and after a season of maturity in 2011, he is providing a lot of hope for aussie men's tennis in 2012....

he has entered the aussie open on good form... winning the kooyong classic after taking down some big name players.... but it was his first round match today that was so inspiring...

down 2 sets to 0, a young teenager like tomic could have easily folded under the pressure and expectation of the local crowd... but instead, he somehow managed to cruise thru the final 3 sets and seal an amazing 5-set win against fernando verdasco... the 22nd seed, and a former semi-finalist at melbourne....

i'd love to see the tomic juggernaut roll on~~

Inspiration to start the New Year~!!!

to start the New Year, a story of inspiration....

while many were waiting to see tendulkar score his 100th international century... we saw something more inspiring....

Ricky Ponting.... with the pressure of selectors trying to axe him from the team... coming off back to back 60+ scores in the Boxing Day test, he has built on that to score his first 100 in two years...

it could have been tragic, being run out on 99, but luckily zaheer khan missed the stumps, and he slid in for his 100....

but that wasnt even the main story of the day.... Michael Clarke... career high... and his first ever double century...!!!

Currently on Day 3.... Michael Hussey... also under pressure just scored his 100.... and captain clarke is nearing 300...

i was a critic of clarke.... but as long as ponting isnt dropped while he's still performing... and if the captaincy is making clarke a better player.... the future is bright for australian cricket....