lao_ocean

You made it...
Well, she was a Laotian-American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin' that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to

Email me:
lao.ocean @ gmail.com

My Website My Photoblog
December Photos
My Videos
Now Playing:
Sorak-san
The Windmill
Salmon Festival
Soccer Goal

Where do visitors come from?
(Since 20-Dec-04)

Fave flowesr: Plumeria and Jasmine

Birthday: DEC 31^st
Location: Kangneung, South Korea
Homestate: Oregon. UofO alum
Job: Teaching English in Korea
Super Powers: Super delayed reaction time, perceiving the obvious, & hyper-indifference
Watching: CSI, Gilmore Girls, Cold Case, Lost, Veronica Mars, Arrested Development, Joan of Arcadia, Simpsons, The Daily Show
Fixated on: downloading TV shows, organizing my photos
Want to touch: Old people skin. Oooohh, so soft!
Currently annoyed with: not taking over the world due to my laziness
Looking forward to: Travelling after leaving Korea

Sing like no one can hear
Dance like no one can see
Love like you've never been hurt
Live like it's heaven on earth

Let's set it straight - Is the country Laos or Lao?
Here's the answer

This week...
Things that make me happy

Flying out to Panama on Monday, Jan 31st!
not working all week
sleeping in
discovering the world of webcams w/ audio

Movies I've seen this month

13 Going On 30
21 Grams
Garden State
Meet The Fockers
The Forgotten
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle
The Aviator
Hotel Rwanda
The Notebook
The Village

What they're saying about me

"She's a nut! Not too sure how else to describe an "at-first-glance" seemingly quiet girl who dances like a chicken when she thinks no one else is looking, who likes to pass off her "made up" answer for fact, until you look at her and see her hopelessly trying not to crack a smile, who WITHOUT FAIL remembers to put a line of dental floss in her purse before she goes out (and isn't afraid to use it after dinner, thankfully NOT at the table!!). I can always count on her to know the hottest hollywood gossip, and to dance till all hours of the morning with me."

"My co-worker just told me that there was a premiere for Bridget Jones 2 last night, just blocks from my work, and we missed it! Hugh Grant, my beloved and the framework upon which my future husband is based, was just blocks away, breathing the same oxygen, and I missed it! If I had a friend here who was as savvy with E-news as you are, this catastrophe would never have occurred!"

Guess what I heard...

Oh my god!! This donut is so good! - Ras about a Krispy Kreme donut

Just because I've been drinking doesn't mean I can't start shit. - Tom B.

You know what they say, if your burps smell like shit? You've been eating shit. - Melvin

"I want to do! But what is paintball? There is no such word in dictionary." - Suwa, Japanese teacher

"I am now skipping church to see if I am going to win my bids!!!" "YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA.....I won the felt tip pens!!!!!!!! Yippeee...."who let the dogs out...arf, arf, arf, arf"...."let me hear you say Y..M..C..A"....oh yah, who's your daddy!!!" - Renee

"I was sitting in my office the other day and I suddenly got this horrible wrenching pain in my ankle. It really felt like I got a type two sprain just from sitting there. The strangest thing. Too bad cause I saw that Richard Gere movie and I got some Swayzerific moves." - I asked Tom R. if he was going to dance this weekend.

Other favorite quotes:

A gift is an offering. A selfless act that adds something to someone's life. Something that they need.

Have you ever walked by something and you just had this feeling that someone you knew would absolutely love it?

Faith is believing when there is no rational reason to believe.

Homer: "We Americans are England's children... I know we don't call as much as we should, or aren't as well behaved as our goody two shoes brother, Canada... who I should mention has never had a girlfriend... I'm just sayin'..."

Anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of time. There are too many mediocre things in life, and love should not be one of them.

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.

When your heart speaks, take good notes.

Travel has a way of stretching the mind. The stretch comes not from travel's immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way.

It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.

Sometimes to see the light, you have to risk the dark.

Seoul on Saturday

11/29/2004

I went to Seoul on Saturday and did some shopping.

I took a picture of this pigeon at the bus terminal. It had a shrimp chip in its beak, as it was making a run for it, while another pigeon was chasing it.

An army of pigeons	Korean Wal-Mart. I went inside and it reminded me of a strip mall K-mart... very disappointing. Any day at Emart is more entertaining.
This was the first Papa John's I've seen in Korea. Mmmmm, garlic butter dip.	Razor or sanitary napkins for 500 won. Wet naps for 1000 won. Pocket tissues for 200 won. Panty hose for 2000 won.
Tons of "cute" cell phone accessories.	Puffed up bread for 1000 won.

This is the BIGGEST KOREAN MAN I've ever seen! I was in Shinsegae department store when he and (supposedly) his girlfriend were shopping. I'm 5'8" and the woman was about my size, maybe 1 or 2 inches shorter. The guy was HUGE! 7 feet maybe??? I have no idea what sport a guy like this would play, because he's definitely some kind of athlete.

Posted at: 11:30:01 am

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Sunday afternoon & The English Club

11/28/2004

It was a lazy Sunday today. I took a walk downtown and took some pictures along the way.


I love persimmons, and this is one of the few trees I've seen around town that nobody has picked the fruit off yet.	I had a picture taken with the police mascot last week during some kind of university fair downtown.

Last Wednesday, I met Tom and his English Club students for some drinks. They were a nice bunch, and I took some picture during the night. Since I gave some of them my website address, I have to post some pictures.

Posted at: 10:53:50 pm

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The Warehouse Club night pictures

11/26/2004

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving here was just another Thursday.

Here are pictures from last weekend, which was also Kiran's last weenkend in Kangneung. Today, he's headed to Seoul, and will take the slow boat to China. He plans on travelling at least 6 months - a year, around the world. He'll be in India around March, and maybe I'll meet up with him there. We had some good time, and I hope he has a safe trip.

This is Joe, Kiran's replacement at LCI. I first met him at Emart earlier in the day when he came up to me and said something like, "Hey, are you lao-ocean.com?"	We had dinner of dukcalbi, then went to Drug (bar) before heading to The Warehouse.
We met some nice soldiers at the bar.	Christa and Allison teach them how to dance.
Allison lets Christa and I look at her boobies.	James boogies down, then leaves on a flight back to Canada the next morning.
I didn't notice this until Allison said so, but Kiran dances like he's taking a sh*t.	This one's really BIG!
Kiran gets drunk as the night wears on, and starts to wrestle Ras.	Kiran hangs on like a monkey
Tob B. and Melvin learning about "Making out in Korean." Some of the vocabulary in there included, "I don't like using a condom," "Harder, harder," "Faster, faster," and "Let's get married."	Pictures from the rest of the night are HERE

Posted at: 1:45:34 pm

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New Videos

11/19/2004

I just uploaded some new, short videos. It's nothing fancy - just using the movie option on my camera. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier! Now I'll definitely be taking more videos, along with pictures. There'll be a permanent link to the videos on the left hand side.

They can all be seen HERE. The videos take up a lot of space, so new ones will be rotated in every week. Currently, I've posted:

Sorak-san	As seen in the last post. It's a mountain near Sokcho and where I live.
The Windmill �	Yes, it's an example of my dancing skillz. Of course, I'm not taking it seriously. If I was, there'd be thumb jabs in there, along with some break dancing. ...just didn't want to show off all at once.
Salmon Festival	This video has Raswan and Kiran in it. This was during the Yangyang Salmon Festival in October. Did I mention yet, that I LOVE SALMON???
Carlos Scoring	No, not with the ladies. He scores a goal during a weekly soccer game with the boys. It's not that impressive, but you have to realize that I've never seen him run. And from the looks of it, I don't think he likes it either.
Reny's Airplane	This is my friend Reny (her nickname). She's a dork. That's why I love her. Oh yeah, she's single and looking for a side-mouth talker. Jesus loves her.
Bellagio	I took this at the Bellagio 2 years ago. I thought I'd throw it in, otherwise nobody will ever see it, except for me.

Are the videos all playing at once??? If so, please let me know so I can fix it. On my computer, the videos don't play unless I press play.

Posted at: 1:18:11 am

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New Video

11/18/2004

I'm experimenting with putting videos on my website, and not exceeding my bandwith. Here's the first one. Let me know if you can properly view it, and if the connection's slow. If it works, I've got some fun videos to post.

Sorak-san video with monks chanting in the background.

Posted at: 2:19:10 pm

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Tanks rolling

11/18/2004

A couple weeks ago, on a quiet sunny morning, I heard loud thunderous rumbling from outside. My whole apartment shook, and it almost felt like an earthquake. I poked my head out from my 2nd story apartment and saw tanks rolling down the street! I got pretty excited, since I've never seen real tanks actually moving somewhere. I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, as I searched for my camera. I took some pictures, but the soldiers were staring at me. I guiltily snapped shots, wondered if it was a breach of security. About 20 tanks later, nobody had made an effort to stop their tanks. I'm looking forward t the next convoy that comes by.

Posted at: 11:10:06 am

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My Spam dish

11/17/2004

If you don't know already, I LIKE SPAM. It's true - just check out my entry from March 3, 2004. Part of that entry included a haiku I wrote about Spam. I'v also added a second one I wrote 2 minutes ago.

Pink, tender canned ham
Glistening with salty gel
I procaim, "Spam rocks!"

A quarter less salt
Luckily the gel hasn't changed
Don't forget the gim

Rory's entry about his sausage sandwich inspired me to include my own Spam dish. I'd be one of the first to admit that eating Spam without cooking it would be disgusting, but once you cook it's, it's quite tasty. Here's how I eat Spam.

I've already eaten half of this can. A full sized can will make 4 serving. It's actually better if the can has been refigerated, because it's easier to cut and work with.	Don't forget a freshly cooked pot of rice. Since being in Korea, I've met some foreigners who have never used a rice cooker. I'm the opposite - I've never cooked rice on a stove. I have no idea what Uncle Ben's rice tastes like. AND, I was once shocked to see a non-Asian putting BUTTER on their rice! I'm a traditonalist. It's better in its fluffy, white form.
This is what it looks like in the pan.	Flip the pieces over when it's this brown. As this is cooking, also fry 1-2 eggs, so that both the spam and eggs will be done at the same time.
Don't forget the gim. Some people spell it "kim", but it's not a hard "k" sound. Instead, it's a soft "g", so I wrote it "gim". Oh yes... gim is dried and salted seaweed.	This bite inclludes a piece of seaweek, rice, fried eggs, and spam. This is really good, but you have to at least like seaweed.

This is my Spam dish. You an also put soy sauce over the eggs like I have. Seriously... try it. Fried Spam is pretty good!

Posted at: 11:24:29 am

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Gmail anyone?

11/17/2004

I've got at least 10 Gmail invites available to give out. I'm too lazy to make up witty email addresses like ashley.simpson.is.a.total.poser.4lip.syncing@gmail.com and selling them on eBay. If anyone wants one, send me an email. Preference will be given to people I know and those that have left comments on my site. Sure, call it a bribe if you'd like. [read more about the Ashlee Simpson reference]

Reny asked what a "permalink" was. If you click on the "permalink" at the end of this entry, it will only show this entry on one page. The address above is the unique web address for it. A permalink is a link to the individual entry that will still work even after the entry is no longer available on the front page (hence, it's a "permanent link"). You can can easily link to your favorite entries (maybe in your own bookmarks) and pass the links to friends. Therefore, if you want to email a friend about this particular entry, they can go directly to it, without having to scroll down and look for it. You will see that I linked to an old Spam entry in the one following this one.

Posted at: 1:21:13 am

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Watch out for me!

11/17/2004

Sheena called me tonight to express her thoughts on my account of her Saturday night. Luckily, she wasn't mad, but it definitely is a surprise to see what pictures other people take of you when you're not looking. I think Kiran warned her to be careful around me and my camera. (If he and Krista are going to be drunk and fall down while dancing, what sane person wouldn't snap a shot and write funny captions about it???) Yes, it's true that I take my camera everywhere, and will take pictures of almost anything. Still, one shouldn't worry around me! The pictures don't lie... it's what I say about the pictures - that's the part that is sometime refuted. She even said that she should create blog just to counteract my blog. Come one! Like I haven't heard THAT one before! She'd be standing in line, right behind Tom R.

Posted at: 1:07:28 am

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I sprained my ankle

11/16/2004

This week has been really cold. It definitely felt like fall, maybe even an early winter. I've had to take my down jacket out of storage and started wearing scarves again. Yesterday was blustery all day. It was about 7:30 pm and I was walking down an unlit street behind the post office. Suddenly there was a large gust of wind, almost blowing me over. To get away from the wind, I crossed the street and scurried to a wall near a construction site. Because it was completely dark, I didn't see the lip on the street. Many times in Korea, when they repave the road, they don't take off the old asphalt. Instead, new asphalt is laid on the old, creating a lip on the side of the road, like the one below.

The scene of the accident, the day after.

As I walked quickly towards the wall, I tripped on this part of the road. It completely surprised me, and I fell forward, rolling my ankle and skimming my knee. It's funny the things you think about when accidents or bad things happen. First thought: What just happened? Oh no!!! Did I just sprain my ankle? Second though: If I DID, how am I going to dance at The Warehouse's Club Night this weekend!?! Hahaha! Seriously, that's what I thought. It's funny now that I think about it. I slowly tried to get up and walk it off, but fell back down because my ankle was so weak. As I was wimpering and trying to get up, a woman behind me, who obviously saw the whole thing, walked by me without a second glance. Ummm, thanks a lot lady!

This was after it just happened, and doesn't look so bad. Aftwards, the whole area around the knee was bruised. Plus, I ripped the knee on my favorite jeans.

As the hours passed, my ankle got really stiff and I realized that I did sprain it. I went online to find more information about sprains. Out of 3, I have a Grade 2 ankle sprain, acording to Webmd.com

In an ankle sprain, damage to the ligament varies from simply stretched or slightly torn to completely torn.

Grade I is stretching or slight tearing of the ligament with mild tenderness, swelling, and stiffness. It is usually possible to walk with minimal pain.
Grade II is a larger but not complete tear with moderate pain, swelling, and bruising. The damaged areas are tender to the touch and there is pain with walking.
Grade III is a complete tear of the affected ligament with severe swelling and bruising. Walking is usually not possible because of the ankle gives out and there is intense pain, although initial pain may quickly subside.

Last night, I didn't fall asleep until after 4am because it was throbbing so much. 24 hours later, it's feeling much better. Dancing will probably be in my future.

Posted at: 9:06:22 pm

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