What the .... Chemical Warfare?!?!?

I had finished my workout and showered at the gym. Since I had time to kill before work I was talking with my friend, the woman who works the desk. Her English isn't good but between her bad English and my bad Korean, and having known each other 3 years, we get by.

Then two men barge in. One of them bellowing some nonsense in Korean. The other has what can only be described as a cross between a Sub-Machine Gun, mini-vac, and some sort of man portable water cooler. He is immediately demanding to know where to plug his contraption in. There is a 3rd guy in the hallway looking for something. (Turns out he wanted an electrical socket too.) The two "armed" guys are wearing face masks, the other isn't.

When he finishes bellowing at my friend I ask her what the kimchi is going on? She said something about cleaning or disinfecting. Ok. Liquid must be some kind of cleanser. Or cleaning mist. The building owner sent them. She also said the maskless guy said it was safe. Now the mouthy guy is making sure the windows and doors are closed. The Koreans are coming to the front to find out what is going one.

I look in the hallway and the guy is plugged in and the contraption is spewing out some kind of mist. It smells ... familiar. The guy inside is plugged in and spewing mist. The maskless guy who said it was safe ... is no longer maskless.

All of the Koreans are leaving the gym and heading into the hallway. Some are heading out onto the balcony area. The gym area is now getting foggy.

I sniff the air again. Fuck me! They are MoGi Men! They are spraying insecticide in the gym and hallway. Safe my ass!

This is one of those things that makes you wonder what the fuck is wrong with people in this country. It is bad enough when you have those trucks or scooters going by outside spraying insecticide to kill mosquitoes. Kids will follow and play in the damn "smoke". But they do it inside an enclosed space while people are there too! What the kimchi?!?!?

I have never experienced this happening indoors before. Outdoors, yes. Too often. Hope I never experience it again.

Mook Of The Week

As you may know, I live in Cheongju, and commute to a small town called Oksan. I see many, many mooks and mookish behaviour on the road, but it's difficult to document when you're driving. I think I would be considered a mook if I was concentrating more on taking pictures than taking care of business.
It's also not a good idea to take your mind off of watching out for the next accident coming your way, because you know the mooks are selfishly oblivious.
But, I have taken to having the camera at the ready, just in case the opportunity presents itself. And, as they always do, the mooks obliged.
I saw this mook just as I was coming into Oksan. The road crosses a river, and then comes to a T-intersection. I was waiting for the light to change when I saw him.
That's Oksan in the distance. Not much more than a wide spot on the road, but it's smack in between here and there, so it gets a lot of through traffic, including heavy trucks, buses, etc.
There're also a lot Kim Kadiddlehoppers on their tractors and forklifts(!) clogging the highways and byways. Oksan is full of old ajummas and adjussis who just don't give a fuck about traffic safety. I think they must've grown up walking on the road simply because there wasn't anything else. Sidewalks are one of those recent innovations that come with entering the 20th century, and these mooks are still looking askance, deciding if they're really that practical. The jury is still out.
I mean, look at this guy! There's a guardrail there, but why would he want to walk behind that?! And walking against traffic, so you can see it coming?
No way!
They should look out for me!
Mookmookmookshepalmookchoahmookgesekimookshepalnommookmookmook.
The bridge is ahead of this mook. He was probably going across. Why? Fuck if even he knows.
But it's kind of narrow; only two lanes with no sidewalk. It wouldn't take much for some selfishly oblivious mook to rub him off against the guardrail and over the side into the drink.
But he doesn't care, 'cause he's got places to go.
You sir, are a mook.

Mmmmmmmmmm Cigar.

A lazy Sunday afternoon. The weather is absolutely gorgeous, like the Korean hotties strutting past Flint and myself, lounging at the Dunkins patio.
After a lunch of Popeye's chicken, it's time for a cigar. Today it's a Partagas series D.
I have never been affected by a cigar quite like this one. I hope my description does it justice. It's been a couple of hours, and I am still buzzing.
Inspired by Winston Churchill, we've taken to punching a hole in the cap with a matchstick rather than using a conventional cutter.
I wasn't sure about the draw at first. It was almost too much work, and I was debating about using the cutter anyway. I'm glad I didn't.
I was drinking a strawberry Coolata, which wasn't really a good match with the cigar. Flint asked me why I didn'y get a coffee flavoured one, and I had to take my cap off to smack myself on the head.
D'oh!
And then, it was like something popped inside the cigar. The draw was everything I could have asked for.
It was about 1/3 of the way into the cigar when this wave just washed over me. It was an instant high. As I said, I've never experienced such an intense reaction before. I've had some pretty good buzzes while smoking, but this was just so much more.
My whole body was tingling, and my head was floating away on a cloud. Alizee's "J'ai En Marre" was running through my brain, adding to langourous effects of the buzz.
It was the kind of feeling you have after a really, really good sexual experience.
This went on for the rest of the time I was smoking. I was feeling very mellow, just enjoying the great weather and the scenery rolling past.
The cigar went out with about a quarter left to go, and I couldn't get it relit. It didn't matter, as I was feeling so good, I don't know if I could have handled anymore.
The walk home was more of a stroll, and the day co-operated with me.
Well, mostly. I did have to elbow a mook who figured he could walk through instead of around me.
But the air was fresh-smelling, with the green growing of new grass and leaves. I trailed along behind a Korean hottie, enjoying her perfume and the slow sway of her hips.
Now I'm relaxing at home with Alizee's Moscow concert playing on the computer.
She's singing Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds Of Silence."
Mmmmmmmmmm.

What the ... admission?!?!?

A friend pointed out a Korea Times article to me today. It is titled "Koreans Swayed by Herd Mentality".

Basically the article talks about something most of us already know about Koreans. The group mind, collective mentality, bandwagon effect, or herd mentality if you will. Take your pick they all give you insight to the way Koreans act. It is one of the few countries in the world (maybe 1 of 2?) where you can generalize about behaviour or attitudes and be right.

The article points out how this type of mentality can hurt the economy.

Even the country's top financial regulator warned midway through last year that herd behavior can end up generating asset price bubbles, thus wreaking havoc on the economy.

It isn't just the economy and buying practices that it affects. According to the article it can affect innovation.

Another downside is that the mindset may call for mere conformity while intruding upon innovative thinking as amply demonstrated by partisan regionalism. In other words, herd mentality may choke innovation.

As a foreigner in Korea I know it reaches even further. It affects how Koreans react to situations. Look at the whole craze against foreigners teaching in Korea. Thanks to media hype and KKK's with an axe to grind this is perpetuated on an almost daily basis.

Look at the Mad Cow stupidity. The sheep would read the net, watch PD Diary, and just bleet back the BS they heard whether it was true or not. And in most cases the fear mongering was based on lies.

Look at things like the way they think about seasons. No not the "we have 4 distinct seasons" BS. If it is this season you must dress this way. You ONLY wear short sleeves in summer. As I mentioned in another post Koreans tend to freak out if you wear out of season clothes. It is conformity and if you don't conform the herd will show their disdain.

While it is nice to see that some Koreans are recognizing the herd mentality they need to look deeper. Maybe then they can actually effect some changes for the better.

What the ... KKK?!?!?

I have been working on this post for awhile. It seems more timely now considering Lousy Korea closed her blog. From what I have heard she was receiving death threats, which she would have put up with. The kicker was some Korean Kimchi Kommandoes threatening to kill another bloggers children. Lousy felt enough was enough, the KKK are too insane. Thus she gave in to the assholes and ended the blog. It is hard to fault her thinking.

The Kamikaze Kimchi Kommandoes. I can't think of a better, non-vulgar, name for some of the "Korean" nutizens and other so-called "Defenders" of Korea. They like to believe they are "defending" Korea from the rest of the world. Most of the time they just make Korea and Koreans look bad. Many of them are kyopos. Some of whom have NEVER been to the "motherland". Yet they think that the KNOW what life is like in Korea and have the temerity to imply they speak for all Koreans.

How do they make themselves and Korea look bad? They act out like children.

Look at the Winter Olympics. They didn't like a call against the Korean skaters. The usuall fuckery happened. Death threats to the Australian judge, who was ONE of several judges to make the decision. A bomb threat to the Australian Embassy. And a lot of whining. Much like what happened during World Cup 2006. The Swiss beat Korea. The Swiss embassy recieved a bomb threat. Korean nutizens caused the Embassy server to crash spamming it with hate mail. Sadly, this is a pretty normal reaction when the KKK don't like something.

God forbid someone posts something on the internet that they feel (rightly or wrongly) is anti-Korean. These whack jobs will do all they can to destroy the person. They will try and find your personal information and post it on the internet. They will try and get people to call your work place and get you fired. They will deluge you with hatemail and death threats. Your avegare Korean doesn't seem to be able to handle any criticism of Korea. These nutjobs take it to a new level.

After the English Spectrum bull shit the nutizens used the net to rally themselves. They organized hunts for foreigners in Hongdae. The Anti-English Spectrum group formed to stalk and harass foreign English teachers in Korea.

It isn't just the netizens though. Korean protesters don't help either. To protest Japan claiming Dokdo some Koreans beat pheasants to death in front of the Japanese Embassy, ate their entrails, and threw the carcasses at the Embassy. This was done to show the world how CRUEL Japan is. All it did was make Koreans look like psychoes to the world.

Another protest saw a live baby pig literally ripped into 4 by a crowd of protestors. This is how sane adults protest? No it isn't and it makes Korea look barbaric and cruel to the rest of the world.

Then you have the places these idiots make to speak out and "defend the motherland". The web sites they make tend to hurt their cause more than help it.

A Grand Wizard (Ok the title is Grand Master but how could one not alter it.) on one site would say things like;

"Well that's good. At least you're not like that n-ggah blackboon mike in Korea blogger who whines and gripes about "scrimination and shiet" 24-7 on his defunct blog. Or that youseok aborigine who plays the race card and poses and pretends that he's a black guy, because a lot of abrogines of australia look like black people. I find most of the hardcore anti-Korean racist to be black foreigners living in Korea. They try to bring white-guilt and their victimhood to Korea and the rest of Asia and also want to be treated like king"kong" and queens. LOL!"

"LOL! Armenians remind me of those messicans. They tend to be arrogant, pushy and cocky. A lot of them have dark brown skin and look like hispanic people. I didn't know that a lot of them are on welfare, though.

Exactly. This kind of shit happens to us Koreans and many other fellow Asians living in the US and other western countries. Yet, we don't act childish and immature by going online and starting blogs calling people racial slurs, or posting news articles that badmouth your host country."

This from a KKKommando who had a blog taken down because of its racist vitriol. It was nigger this and darkie that. But hey they don't act childish or immature by going online starting blogs calling people racial slurs or anything like that. Unless of course you look at the blog he set up or the site they gather at. Personally I think blogspot should have left it up because it just showed what a racist piece of shit the Grand Wizard is.

"Basically children from Korean farmer dads and SEA mothers are going tobe bottom of the social ladder and very few fortunate will succeed the expectation and become fully accepted by Korean community. "

The person who posted this is stating a truth about how mixed-race people are treated in Korea. Instead of talking about how that is not a good thing, it is racist, he blames Korean women.

"It's shame to see many Korean girls in South Korea willing to marry foreigners with any kind of looks and with poorer financial backgrounds but turns blind eyes to local rural farmers. "

Then you have another Grand Wiard saying this about crime in Japan.

"Sadly, Japanese aren't interested in their crime unless there are "Korean" involved. It's like entire Japan is evolved around Koreans."

Wow Mr. Pot can you see Mr. Kettle trying to get your attention? Insert Koreans and foreigners and you pretty much have life in Korea viewed through such journalistic wannabes as the Korea Times, Korean Herald, and other so called media outlets. Hell the website this KKKunt posts on perpetuates this BS. The site that some of these Lousy KKKunts come from actually makes Lousy Korea's blog look TAME at times. (I don't usually talk directly about these kind of sites because I don't feel like sending hits their way. I am making an exception for the Grand Wizards and the other Lousy KKKers.)

Mind you this does show a big difference between the way these people think and the way I, and a lot of other people I know, think. The KKK will talk about how they don't care about discrimination against foreigners because they were discriminated against. Or they heard Koreans were discriminated against. They will spew out racist garbage in order to complain about racists. I do care. I didn't tolerate racism when I saw it at home. If I saw people treating foreigners back home the way many Koreans do here I would and did SAY something. If the Canadian media was putting out blatantly anti-foreigner BS I would say something. When I do move back home I am not going to treat Koreans I meet badly just because of assholes in Korea or on the net.

What these idiots fail to realize is that when they "speak out for Korea" they make Korea look bad. They whine about people complaining about Korea and people who are racist towards Korean while just spewing out their own racist crap. For protecting Korea they get a big FAIL. For making Korea and Koreans look bad they get an A+.

To the KKKommandoes all I can do is take a page from John Stewart and say Go Fuck Yourselves!

What the ... Lousy Korea?!?!?

What the kimchi?! Lousy Korea has vanished from the blogosphere. Who will annoy the Korean Kimchi Kommandoes the way she did? Anyone know why she vanished?

UPDATE: If you are interested in what happened to Lousy Korea then check out Korean Rum Diary.

Cigars - Bolivar Belicosos Finos

In one word ... disappointing.

After reading the review of this cigar on the Seoul Cigar Afficianado Society Blog I was intrigued. They ranked it up with the Monte Cristo Torpedo. And they emphasised the strong flavour of it.

I bought two of them. The only good things I can say about the 1st one was that it had a beautiful even burn. Strong ash. Great draw. But the flavours just weren't there. It started to taste better once you got to the last 1/3. Overall a very poor showing.

The second one was even more of a let down. The burn was HORRIBLE. And once again the flavours were lacking. The first 1/3 of it had almost no taste. It was like smoking air. The flavour picked up a bit after that. It wasn't until the last 1/3 that it beging to have a stronger flavour. But it still wasn't that flavorful. As it got into nub territory it had problems staying lit and with the draw. Probably because of the horrible burn.

If I was given one I would smoke it again. I will never buy another one. Very disappointing.