stephenhucker.com

Note to self: Yesterday I sent the books below back home (sans the Grammar for English Language Teachers book) plus some cycling clothing and a South Korean flag

The man in the post office said it will take 50 days which would make it September 14th!
Still 20 KGs @ 48,000 won is not a bad deal.
I also joined the Australian Knife Collectors Club which means when I bring my fake sword (Kargum) back to Australia it won’t be confiscated by Customs.

From http://www.grupthink.com/poll/22

These domains can be pronounced in different, often amusing ways

1. Therapistfinder.com
(No description provided)

2. Penisland.net
(No description provided)

3. Powergenitalia.com
Italian power company

4. Molestationnursery.com
(No description provided)

5. Expertsexchange.com (now changed to Experts-Exchange.com)
(No description provided)

6. Whorepresents.com
“A quick reference guide to & for representatives”

7. Mp3shits.com
(No description provided)

8. Lumbermansexchange.com
Lumberman’s Exchange, Now defunct, archive here: http://web.archive.org/web/…change.com/

9. Askart.com 05-02-06
askart.com – The American Artists Bluebook – However, depending on how you pronounce the domain name, it can sound like ‘AssCart.com’

10. Thepenismightier.com 04-27-06
From PurplePorpoise at Metafilter.

11. Fagray.com/ 05-01-06
F.A. Gray – Paint & Wallpaper

12. Cummingfirst.com 04-27-06
Cumming First United Methodist Church, in Cumming, Georgia. From tellurian at Metafilter.

13. Mofo.com 04-27-06 1 Comment
Morrison & Foerster legal firm. From telluroan at Metafilter.

14. Truckersexpress.com 05-03-06
Truckers Express: A specialized Heavy Haul industry leader. With 650 trucks and over 1400 hundred trailers, our Owner / Operators can get… Vote!

15. Google 05-02-06
haha

16. Regalcock.com 04-27-06
A fromer Canadian Parliamentarian website. From raider at Metafilter.

17. Nagiosexchange.com 04-25-06
(No description provided)

18. Mywebos.com 04-26-06
You do need to know Spanish to get this one.

19. Machome.com 04-27-06
Macho who? From darakpony at Metafilter.

20. Nycanal.com
From Mayor Curley at Metafilter.

21. Gasheating.co.uk
From dmt at Metafilter

22. Agedwards.com
Do they really want to be know as aged wards?

23. Butthatsnotall.co.nz
The AdMan “as seen on TV” site in New Zealand. Is a “Butt-hat” a wearable item, and is “snot-all” more or less than “sweet F.A.”?

24. Goredforwomen.com
“As seen on magazine advertizements and billboards near you.” From blindcarboncopy at Metafilter.

25. Newsextracts.com
News Extracts, “reland subsidiary of the Sweden based Observer AB Group, the world leader in media and journalist contact databases,

26. 4fastinkjets.com
Mmm… stinkjets. From staggernation at Metafilter.

27. Madearmotherstouch.com
I couldn’t make any sense out of this one. From suitcase at Metafilter.

28. Stlouiswomansexchange .com
When will people learn to stop putting *sexchange in thier domains? From limeonaire at Metafilter.

29. Rebelscum.com
From MrBadExample at Metafilter.

The end is nigh.

I have booked passage for the colonies, arriving

8:55 am on Singapore Airlines flight SQ 237 on the 2nd of September

School finishes up on the 19th of July. This is the summer vacation for Yaeum Middle School where I work.
Technically I am not entitled to a vacation as I have already used up my allocated holidays. The school has not yet told me if I am working. But it looks like I am as free to do as I want until August 24th.

My friends in Ulsan who work at another school and at a teacher training centre have a different schedule to me.
At Ulsan Language Academy where I used to work they are teaching teachers in the summer holidays. When the holiidays end they will join me working at the schools below.

On August 24th I have to work at various schools

August 24th – Chungryang middle school
August 25th – Dukwang middle school
August 28th – Woongchon middle school
August 29th – Kangdong middle school

So on the 30th I will clean up my apartment. The 31st I will travel to Seoul and have a last look around.
Then I will fly out on the 1st of September for Singapore.

Today I had my black belt test.

I am somewhat ambivalent about the result. Yes, I did pass, but not to my satisfaction.
As mentioned in a previous post there are three things I had to do to pass.

1. Shimsang Gumbap
2. 20 Finger pushups
3. Breaking a piece of wood with my wooden sword (mokgum)

Part 2 and 3 were easy, no problems. Since I did the test with some young women (why aren’t they in my Dojang!) I could look quite macho b/c of my deep masculine voice 🙂

But I totally screwed up on the Shimsang Gumbap.

The process of the black test works as follows. A group of about six people are called up and as a group they do the six activities needed to pass. Naturally I was nervous. So what did I do?
Halfway through the gumbap I completely forgot where I was and just stood there like a deer in a spotlight trying to remember what to do next … and failing. Fortunately I was given another chance. One of the instructors pulled me to the side and told me to start again. I did and no problems !. In fact the audience liked my tumble rolls because they were much higher then anyone else’s.

So I was feeling a little disappointed for making the mistake, but at least the second time I did the job right.
Later I learnt that this was when I passed the test. Most of the judges passed me on my second try. But some of the older and more traditional judges held the view that you should get one chance and one chance only. I must admit I tend to agree somewhat with that view, especially for adults.

But wait there’s more

After the gumbap I did the pushups and wood breaking. Then we all sat down and watched the black belts test. They were very impressive. Then some numbers were called out in Korean, including mine, not that I noticed b/c I was daydreaming.
So I get up, rush to the centre of the training area and listen to someone say something in Korea

WTF does this mean ? Then he says “Shimsang Gumbap” and I understand

It a retest of all the students who screwed up the first time. This time I completely screwed it up, multiple times, although I at least completed the gumbap. At this point I was quite depressed and angry at myself b/c I had practiced this hundreds of times with no problems and now …..

Anyway, we were all told to sit down. Then about 10 students were called up and handed medals which signify they passed the test. I was not among them. About 20 minutes later they gave me a medal.

– the end –

Love it, Doctor Who is back on tellie … just like when I was a kid.

The end of season episode is on this Saturday and it’s a ripper. The doctor versus the Daleks and the Cybermen

Korea is known for many interesting foods, but fish and chips is not one off them.

There is one restaurant run by a british ex-pat in Banjeojin called Korea Union Cafe

see Ulsan Web description of Korea Union Cafe

Summary: Nice, but pricey.

Naked Women PC

Below is what remains of my second PC.

The motherboard is an ASUS P5GD2 with 2 GB of RAM, a Pentium 4 CPU and a broken fan.

Last time I turned on the PC my computer told me the CPU was running at 98 degrees celsius !

If you look carefully at the fan you can see powder, probably burn marks.
I think the CPU is OK. The question is how to remove the old fan.

See the little hole at the top of the tile in the corner.
Well I accidently hit the title with the plastic shower head and it broke the tile ! WTF ?

Below is a close up, with an orange juice can for scale.

Today the 27th of June I had my grading or test for black belt.

In Haidong Gumdo this test consists of

1. A poomsae or kata called Shimsang Gumbap
2. 20 finger pushups
3. Breaking a piece of wood with your sword.

The finger pushups were easy and the wood was surprisingly easy to break.
Unfortunately when performing Shimsang Gumbap I was nervous and I forgot what the next move was!
Considering I have walked through the entire sequence 5 times a day for the last two weeks, this was rather annoying.
So I had to start again and this time I finished without too many mistakes.

On July 9th I have to travel to another dojang to do the wood break again. This time the wood will be of a much better quality, i.e. harder If I break it then I will be a black belt. I only get two chances at doing this so I had better not stuff up.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot, normally a test costs 20,000 won. The black belt test costs 220,000 won ! 🙁
So I better not fail.

While training for this test I have managed to get two “tennis elbows” !

This is the problem area on my arms. Sports like fencing or Gumdo put a lot of stress the muscles in your forearms.
What I can’t figure out is why now? I trained much harder when I started Gumdo. Is it my diet or am I just too old?

I also had a knee problem but it has resolved itself But the tennis elbow is a problem.
Originally it was only my left arm, but now it has moved to my right arm!
So I will take a break from Gumdo this week and see a doctor for treatment options. I want to get it fixed whilst I am in Korea b/c it is so cheap here for physiotherapy and Oriental medicine.
So if I successfully pass my black belt test then I shall stop training. Since I only have two months left in Korea, that means no more Gumdo training.
If I am presented with an opportunity to do Gumdo in Australia I would like to do so. But first I need to lose weight and build up strength and flexibility.