Mr. Blonde Goes to South Korea

[DDTempest]

Originally Posted by Der Fuhrer

YouTube - Im a Korean I ve Gotta Feeling Parody

I made it about a minute in ... can anyone tell me if it gets funny after that?

[Mr. Blonde]

It doesn't, especially since all the jokes are based around North Korea.

[Ugly Bastard]

Looks like we've got some negrepping to do. NEW GUY!!!! NEGREP THE NEW GUY!!!

[Der Fuhrer]

It was funny while shit-faced last night. Excuse me for trying to bring some new content on this mother fucker. You didn't even think the Michael Jackson part was even a little funny? I was still kind of drunk this morning when I posted it. Last night was rough, fucking Goldschlager. You're right though, it is fucking stupid. My bad guys I dropped the ball on that one.

[Mr. Blonde]

Looks like i'll be staying in Korea a little longer. Except i'll be at a new school, have more vacation, get holidays off, get paid more, and be living in Seoul which is infinitely better than where i've resided the past year. I'll be here for another month and a half and there is a lot of cool shit coming up in the next couple weeks (Cherry Blossom festival, 4th Annual DJ festival, Buddha's birthday, other random korean shit) for those who said they wanted to visit me here, but there will also be the Mud festival coming at end of summer and other random korean shit then too.

During the month of June I will be mostly traveling. Looking to hit up thailand/cambodia/laos for sure, and possibly make a detour to Italy. If anybody would like to meet up and travel in June, get in touch.

[Ugly Bastard]

Nice!

[Fruitacious B]

Blonde, Repug, DJ FC, and all of you who have awesome lives outside of the Midwest (most of you).....I only hate you out of sheer jealousy.


I've never been west of the Mississippi River...fuck you all.

[ninjaface]

Originally Posted by Fruitacious B

I've never been west of the Mississippi River...fuck you all.

I live in Chicago and barely go west of the Mississippi river other than to visit family. I'd really like to travel, but I am kinda stuck. I have a salary that allows me to survive and have a little bit of fun here and there. I have almost no savings, which is not something I like.

I have the option of moving to Arizona and living with my parents, where I could live rent free, possibly go back to school and work part time. I just don't know at this point. I don't see my life as shitty or anything, but it could clearly be better.

Although I hate the old saying, "Things could be worse." It is true. As long as you have something in your life that you truly enjoy and can find time for/afford/whatever, then shit isn't so bad.

[f3lix]

Go live with your parents for a year. The new climate and lifestyle will change your life. Take a fucking chance with your life.

[Ugly Bastard]

It seems like there's a fair amount of worrying about having savings around here. That's certainly noble of everyone, but at the same time we're all like, what, 25 years old? Don't sweat having savings so much. Most people our age have a bunch of debt. If you have no savings but at least no debt either, that still puts you ahead of a lot of people our age. Enjoy life. We're still young. Start worrying about saving money when you're a little older IMO.

[f3lix]

Exactly. There isn't much of a future to worry about, so unless you're putting money into a Roth IRA (saving yourself from being taxed between 8-30% on that money) just spend. Spend, spend, spend. Enjoy.

We do not live in the conservative lifestyle our parents and grandparents did. Their lives were scripted. Graduate, get a job, start a family, save up your money, retire when 65.

This is not a reality today, as seen by the yearly mega-swings in everything from investing to mobility to technology to life spans increasing.

The world is a much smaller place and you aren't confined to the same town you grew up in anymore.

[Mr. Mistoffelees]

Increase of life span is exactly why you should start saving now.

[Mr. Blonde]

While you two definitely have some valid points (especially about moving out of the Midwest), you have to remember that most of us don't have trust funds and business ownership to back us up if the proverbial shit hits the fan. Not to undercut your guys' achievements or drive at all, but for probably a fair amount of us are less driven or guided early in life, and have literally nothing to fall back on if need be (other than living in our parents basement, which frankly, is not an option. I'd rather be a short order cook for minimum wage than move back in with my parents).

Overall, i'm pretty much a minimalist, which is great for saving money/paying off debts, but i'd just like a way for my money to earn some more money until I get that business idea that will make me rich (5). I may not need to spend a lot of money now, but that's no reason to think I never will.

This sounds like it would be a good opportunity to start a new thread discussing status quo expectations for our generation. I don't know if it's just me but I don't need/want a lot of money because I frankly just don't spend any. I don't have a car (big city/public transpo), I rent (which isn't the most cost effective, , but options arent' that great right now) and only have to take care of myself. I honestly can't see myself working my ass off in a job i'll likely hate just to buy a house/ring/raise kids etc. It almost sounds cliche to even say that, but seriously.

My sister and brother in law both work a significant amount, and while they both have pretty cushy jobs (Pharm. Sales -- Biggest non-talent job EVER and "PR" -- second biggest), their life (to me) is pretty much a fucking nightmare. Two story house in the suburbs of Arizona, an SUV and a company car, a 2 year old boy and a girl on the way, and they spend pretty much every night of the week watching reality TV shows.

While they own a significant amount of shit, they're also in debt a fuckton when it comes down to house ownership, SUV ownership, and not to mention what i'm sure are myriad CC bills, among god knows what other bills. They seem to get a new major electronic device (big screen, surround sound, PS3, Wii, etc.) or piece of one-off machinery every month. It reminds me of this:





What i'm saying is, fuck that shit.

[f3lix]

You'd get a lot more motivated if you took yourself out of your comfort zone (the midwest.) I applaud those who take chances early in life because there is ALWAYS time to get out of a problem spot or fix something that went wrong. It's making mistakes when you are 40 that really cause people problems. I have no debt, but that's because I pay everything off right away and don't buy things I can't afford. When I want something, I go play poker or work a temp job for it. Simple enough. I go get what I want.

ID, an increase in life-span means that you'll work longer, too. Retiring at 65 was great when you die at 75. If you live til 85, that extra decade really takes on a more boring aspect. Keep working and keep living.

[Ugly Bastard]

Originally Posted by f3lix

You'd get a lot more motivated if you took yourself out of your comfort zone (the midwest.)

Are you directing this at Blonde?

[Mr. Mistoffelees]

working /= living

It's not like you have to save every penny. You save what you can while living comfortably and doing what you want, responsibly. I could honestly comfortably live off of 1/4 of what I make now. Not going to do that but I'm also not to just going to throw money around and waste it "because I'm young."

I'd rather have saved up a nest egg, be debt free at 59 1/2 and play golf every day for the rest of my life.

[Mr. Blonde]

I didn't know where else to put this.

Why the U.S. Army Should Leave Korea | The New Ledger

Something REALLY important to take from this is:

The American security blanket has fostered a state of national adolescence by the South Korean public. Too many of them (some polls suggest most) see America as a barrier to reunification with their ethnic kindred in the North.

This is absolutely true. Koreans have a mandatory military service of 2 years, and almost every Korean man i've met is ridiculously feminine. They don't want to be in the military, and their culture focuses more on guys being faggy-looking pretty boys (see: kpop thread) than valuing honor, strength, fighting, normal shit that just goes side by side with our evolutionary history and testosterone, and vital in wartime. To the very few US military i've actually been able to hold an intellectual conversation with, they basically see the Korean military as their annoying weakling little brothers. Apparently they have to hold their hand for everything.

About every time I take the subway, I see a Korean in military fatigues on leave for the weekend or whatever. Almost every single time, I see them carrying a boutique bag from some shopping center. The US needs to gtfo and let this nation of pussies grow up.

It reminds me of something the Vice.tv guy said in the Vice Guide to North Korea, something to the effect of:

If North Korea ever decides to go to war, the South is fucked. North Korean soldiers have been sleeping outside with their AK-47's and eating grass for the past 50 years, and kids from the South grew up playing Starcraft and watching K-pop

- BIG (sic) btw

[f3lix]

Originally Posted by Ugly Bastard

Are you directing this at Blonde?

Directed at anybody not leaving the comfort of their hometown.

[DDTempest]

And by hometown I assume you applying that term to the entire state of Indiana being a town?

[Mr. Blonde]

Originally Posted by DDTempest

And by hometown I assume you applying that term to the entire state of Indiana being a town?

Implying, but yes, I view anybody who stays anywhere as Indiana as basically not ever leaving their hometown. Indianapolis sucks only slightly less than pretty much everywhere else there.

[Mr. Blonde]

A friend of mine asked me this when I posted the above article on facebook:

If the U.S. did pull their military out, wouldn't that jeopardize your life, seeing as you live there?

To which I responded:

As a more serious address to your question, i'm not exactly sure the threat of a NK attack is as looming as a lot of the West thinks. If we left, yes, SK would be more much more vulnerable than they are now, but whether or not that would be enough for Kim Jong Il to actually invade would remain to be seen. Bottom line is that it's not our country, and we've been here as a nanny military long enough. 60 years is more than enough for a country to take it's own military into it's own hands, especially one as wealthy as SK.

Also, and take this however you will, it might do this country some good to get invaded or at least threatened with the US military not hanging around like a gigantic older brother does behind a shit-talking little brat. Many of the younger generation was not in power or even born when the Korean War happened, and they seem to have forgotten the chain of events during it. Not to tout "USA SAVED YOUR ASS!" like a lot of Americans here do who obviously had nothing to do with it, teachers and GI's alike, moreso of the fact that they still are trying to reconcile with a country that INVADED it. Which would be totally understandable, if there was some degree of behavior modification since then (See: North/South in the USA, Early America/Britain), but there hasn't been any. NK is still as nationalistic and crazy as they were during the Korean War.

Point being is that the military here really doesn't seem to be appreciated by about anybody, including the soldiers here, who seem to (at least the ones i've talked to) not enjoy their stay much whatever. SK is still very much a nationalist country as well, and they're pretty much in a love/hate with the United States. They like having us here for tactical military reasons, but even as a teacher I can honestly say they should have started phasing out their current HIGH NEED for foreign English teachers like 10 years ago, or earlier. It's amazing how little English seems to stay with most adult Koreans, given that they usually start learning in public school (let alone after school private schools, which most kids go to also -- and where I teach) from about 7 years old, at the latest.

I've been in Korea for a little over a year, and have had no classes, and can still get by on a little amount of Korean. With as long as they've been learning from professional English speakers in this country, not only should their be ANY KONGLISH ANYWHERE, they should have their own, professional, Korean English teachers teaching English here instead of having to massively outsource overseas. But they don't, and I think a big part of that is their nationalism. I.E., they don't respect the English language enough to know it fluently, because it's not Korean.

[Repugnant Abomination]

Traveling and living abroad can be great, but don't over romanticize it too much. Your expectations should be realistic. The most important thing I've learned about leaving your comfort zone and moving to a new place is yes, it will teach you about yourself, you will grow as a person and you will see some amazing things you never would have, but it won't be on your terms. When you move, especially to another country, you have to adapt. You have to bend. That was difficult for me. Believe it or not a lot of people never make it as long as they planned to.

[Mr. Blonde]

I don't think anybody here is talking about abroad, but just moving out of your hometown, unless your hometown happens to be awesome and full of opportunity, something which I believe might be impossible in Indiana. Regardless, I agree that there are things you simply can't experience in the place you grew up, surrounded by the comfort of family and friends, which are important (although obviously not necessary) for any adult to experience.

[DJ FC]

Originally Posted by Repugnant Abomination

Traveling and living abroad can be great, but don't over romanticize it too much. Your expectations should be realistic. The most important thing I've learned about leaving your comfort zone and moving to a new place is yes, it will teach you about yourself, you will grow as a person and you will see some amazing things you never would have, but it won't be on your terms. When you move, especially to another country, you have to adapt. You have to bend. That was difficult for me. Believe it or not a lot of people never make it as long as they planned to.

Or you be American and not a faggy Oregonian.

[BigDongedHoe]

lol @ f3lix who seems to think money grows on trees because it does for him. F3lix nearly everyone here didn't get a 6 figure trust fund. So for me the possibility of going out and "spend, spend, spend" is pretty stupid. I'm saving as much money as I possibly can right now because I have yet to land a career job. Once I do land a career job I'll be much more comfortable with spending a little money.