God, Google you're a right bitch.
Awkward, bollocksing piece-of-shite interface.
Okay, so if you're interested in my Facebook page or Twitter and can't be assed stalking my Google profile (because no one would blame you), you can find my information here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blogsofsai
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sai_Blue
Sunday 25 August 2013
Thursday 22 August 2013
Ask Me Anything - August 2013
Good lord, I'm writing this post on the school computers that only have Internet Explorer. Korea having the fastest internet in the world, it would seem they have no need to download decent browsers. Fine for them, but blogger is having a complete bitch-fit.
Anyways, I'm starting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) section to my blog that I will do every now and then. The idea is I will pick the first 20 questions and answer them, however I have had some fantastic questions that would require an essay to give a decent answer, such as the Korean art and music scene, Korean food and my teaching experiences, so I will save them and give them their own blog posts a little later. So, these are the first 20 shorter questions I have received (and I still haven't found my bloody drawing tablet pen, so no pretty pictures):
Gilbert.
Red light district, every Thursday.
I'll cover this in more detail another time, but I suppose the main three points would be:
It's hard to focus on a specific event. I'm a person who enjoys the smaller things in life, so its literally anything from showing Tom around when he first arrived to eating bus-corn with Tori on the ride to Seoul (I may or may not explain bus-corn later).
A man with swag.
Blue. And not a full blue. A green blue? Aqua? Turquoise? Teal? Off-blue.
Why? I feel it's just a colour that suits me. I'm not a ridiculously deep person so I'm not going to go into an essay description about the meanings of colours or the warmth of different shades, but essentially I am not a fiery person, I'm docile and passive. So despite the red hair I'm not a red person (this raspberry colour is as mad as I'm allowed to go in my current career. I'd have blue hair again if I could). But, I'm not quite pure and shiny, so its more an off-blue. A little more murky. Something imperfect, but perhaps a bit more natural.
Best experience, perhaps just wondering aimlessly around Korea with my friends. If you don't have an agenda, that's when the random, excellent experiences occur, right?
Or Nanta. That shits awesome.
Worst experience is Korean winters. -20 degrees Celsius can fuck off.
Coming into school with quite a luminous sun-burn and having the teachers (including the vice-principal) rubbing my arms and legs lovingly with cucumber.
CATS! My lord! I love animals. Someone please give me a cat. I have nothing fluffy to love!
When Tori buys me a bed.
Yes! Why weren't we?! Why does it take so long for people to realise my hilarity? I must give off that British asshole vibe.
I did last year. A little tom-boy that would sit and teach me Korean. Her voice was intense. She sounded like she had been smoking for all her little life. Then she transferred schools at the end of last term and broke my heart. Now I'm one of those bitter teachers.
I can't contain it all. It leaks out on occasion and dazzles everyone (I'd also like to add that these are real questions - I didn't make them up nor did I pay anyone).
Edwin Beard Budding in 1827.
Someone who doesn't respect animals.
One horse-sized duck. I've played Zelda. One-hundred duck-sized anythings attacking you is certain death. Not to mention with added hooves. I'll take the duck boss. Bosses I can do.
They say Sai materialized from pure awesome and hair-dye, but no one knows for sure.
Also, thanks dad.
Either cow-blood jelly soup or a boiled silk-worm cocoon (with the moth still inside). Neither were delicious.
Travel to at least 50 countries.
Because the weirdest things seem to happen to me. I'm scared that if I don't start recording them, I'll forget. Also, I'm not very sentimental when it comes to objects. I prefer pictures and notes, but carrying extra stuff when you're travelling is a hindrance. Having my photos, memories, thoughts and feelings digitally like this means I can see them any time without carrying bulk with me. And publishing them online means my family and friends can see what I'm doing if they so wish. The Facebook page was also for my parents who kept losing the blog link. Oh mum.
However these picture-less blogs are boring. I want my fucking pen!
Anyways, I'm starting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) section to my blog that I will do every now and then. The idea is I will pick the first 20 questions and answer them, however I have had some fantastic questions that would require an essay to give a decent answer, such as the Korean art and music scene, Korean food and my teaching experiences, so I will save them and give them their own blog posts a little later. So, these are the first 20 shorter questions I have received (and I still haven't found my bloody drawing tablet pen, so no pretty pictures):
1. What is your real name?
Gilbert.
2. When are we going to meet?
Red light district, every Thursday.
3. A year in Korea, how has it changed you?
I'll cover this in more detail another time, but I suppose the main three points would be:
- I know how adaptable I am
- I'm less picky with food
- I'm so much cuter
4. What was the highlight of your trip so far?
It's hard to focus on a specific event. I'm a person who enjoys the smaller things in life, so its literally anything from showing Tom around when he first arrived to eating bus-corn with Tori on the ride to Seoul (I may or may not explain bus-corn later).
5. What is your style of guy?
A man with swag.
6. In the most descriptive way possible, what is your favourite colour and why?
Blue. And not a full blue. A green blue? Aqua? Turquoise? Teal? Off-blue.
Why? I feel it's just a colour that suits me. I'm not a ridiculously deep person so I'm not going to go into an essay description about the meanings of colours or the warmth of different shades, but essentially I am not a fiery person, I'm docile and passive. So despite the red hair I'm not a red person (this raspberry colour is as mad as I'm allowed to go in my current career. I'd have blue hair again if I could). But, I'm not quite pure and shiny, so its more an off-blue. A little more murky. Something imperfect, but perhaps a bit more natural.
7. What's been your best and worst experiences in Korea?
Best experience, perhaps just wondering aimlessly around Korea with my friends. If you don't have an agenda, that's when the random, excellent experiences occur, right?
Or Nanta. That shits awesome.
Worst experience is Korean winters. -20 degrees Celsius can fuck off.
8. What was your most recent awkward situation?
Coming into school with quite a luminous sun-burn and having the teachers (including the vice-principal) rubbing my arms and legs lovingly with cucumber.
9. What was the hardest thing to leave behind?
CATS! My lord! I love animals. Someone please give me a cat. I have nothing fluffy to love!
10. When are you coming to Atlanta?
When Tori buys me a bed.
11. Why weren't we better friends before?
Yes! Why weren't we?! Why does it take so long for people to realise my hilarity? I must give off that British asshole vibe.
12. Do you have a favourite student?
I did last year. A little tom-boy that would sit and teach me Korean. Her voice was intense. She sounded like she had been smoking for all her little life. Then she transferred schools at the end of last term and broke my heart. Now I'm one of those bitter teachers.
13. How do you contain all your awesomeness?
I can't contain it all. It leaks out on occasion and dazzles everyone (I'd also like to add that these are real questions - I didn't make them up nor did I pay anyone).
14. Who invented the lawn-mower?
Edwin Beard Budding in 1827.
15. What is your least favourite type of person?
Someone who doesn't respect animals.
16. Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck, or one-hundred duck-sized horses?
One horse-sized duck. I've played Zelda. One-hundred duck-sized anythings attacking you is certain death. Not to mention with added hooves. I'll take the duck boss. Bosses I can do.
17. Who made you so beautiful and big-headed?
They say Sai materialized from pure awesome and hair-dye, but no one knows for sure.
Also, thanks dad.
18. What was the strangest thing you've eaten?
Either cow-blood jelly soup or a boiled silk-worm cocoon (with the moth still inside). Neither were delicious.
19. What is one thing you want to do before you die?
Travel to at least 50 countries.
20. Why did you decide to start blogging again?
Because the weirdest things seem to happen to me. I'm scared that if I don't start recording them, I'll forget. Also, I'm not very sentimental when it comes to objects. I prefer pictures and notes, but carrying extra stuff when you're travelling is a hindrance. Having my photos, memories, thoughts and feelings digitally like this means I can see them any time without carrying bulk with me. And publishing them online means my family and friends can see what I'm doing if they so wish. The Facebook page was also for my parents who kept losing the blog link. Oh mum.
However these picture-less blogs are boring. I want my fucking pen!
Monday 19 August 2013
Communication Complications
I can't find my bloody tablet pen! Always, when I feel like doodling, I lose my pen, or the tablet, or my sketchbook, or my house...
So, another picture-less blog. Le sigh ~
I have a speech impediment. A stammer or stutter to be precise. There are three main types of stutterers: First, is the type who repeats a part of the word (h-h-h-hello). Second is the type who repeats the whole word (my my my my name is Paul). And finally, the type who pause in place of repeating (............nice to .....meet you). I am the last of these three types. Out of the three, I think I lucked-out. People just think I'm mentally slower, as oppose to a stuttering mess. Yippee.
No one really knows what causes stuttering. And after years of speech therapy I can tell you its not an easy thing to be trained out of. I don't even know if its a mental or physical issue. I assume mental, but if so then why hasn't my stubbornness allowed me to overcome it in these 22 years? I'm not depressed, I've come from a very loving home. I have no learning disabilities or mental illnesses. I didn't have any health problems as a child. Bar this and my dark sense of humour there isn't much else wrong with me.
I remember it as a child. It was much worse when I was younger, and I detested having to speak, especially aloud in class. I remember having to recite the eight-times-tables in primary school and breaking down into tears. Or trying to read Shakespeare in my third year of secondary school and becoming so embarrassed I just sat back down. As a child it can do a lot of damage to your confidence (though you probably can't tell, because I'm pretty amazing right now).
Nowadays, upon meeting me many people don't realise I have a stammer. It's not that it's not there any more, it's just that through the years you learn to develop tricks. You know, to fool people into thinking you're not an idiot that can't master a basic skill.
"You have a stutter? I've known you for six months and I didn't notice. When you paused I thought you were thinking." - well, I was thinking, but not about the discussion. You don't realise, but when I'm stuck on a word, this little pause gives me time to scan my brain for a phonetically easier word of the same meaning, or a rearrangement of the sentence that is easier and still makes sense. For example:
"It starts at n-" I'm struggling to say 'nine-thirty,' I'll change it to "half nine."
"I went to a theme park during the h-" I'm struggling to say 'holiday,' I'll change to "vacation" (resorted to using American. Arg)!
It's not just about the word itself either. When talking, we apply more stress to key words and emphasise words differently according to their placement in the sentence. If the stress is put on a word with a phonetically harsh sound, I will most likely have difficulty saying it. For example:
"I live in Korea." - 'Korea is the main focus here, and K is a very harsh sound to produce, so I would usually struggle with this. However, change it to:
"I live in Korea, but I'm actually English." - the stress has shifted to 'but,' I will be able to skim over saying 'Korea' and will have an easier time putting emphasis on the softer B sound. The sentence will be easer to say, even though it is longer.
Annoying isn't it? This is constant. Any time I'm speaking, I'm doing this. So understandably if I'm tired or sick I can't be bothered, and my speech is much worse. It probably doesn't sound like a big issue - it's just a few extra seconds between words or a few extra syllables, but actually it's a very frustrating aspect of my life, as I'm guessing it is for people similar to myself.
No one knows why it occurs or what causes it, so no one knows how to fix it. It's not quite a disability, so sometimes people can be impatient or unforgiving. Or they try to offer advice like "slow down" or "breathe more." As kind as the intentions may be, it's completely ignorant. It's like telling a kid with acne to "go wash your face." Acne is due to a hormone imbalance and excess oils. If it was as easy as washing their face, don't you think they would? The same goes for this. If it was as easily fixed, I wouldn't have a problem.
I don't know why I do it, and actually it can be very painful when my neck and jaw are tense all day. And it's so frustrating. As you can tell by my writing, I'm a person with a lot to say. If I were confident with speaking I probably would have chosen a more theatrical path as oppose to the recluse life of an art student. And it was only after so many years of perfecting my tricks that I had the confidence to pursue teaching. Even now I wish I was more eloquent so that I'd have the balls to apply for university lecturing, but university bastards ask a lot of questions.
I don't like discussing my stammer very often. It is the only thing in my life that's limited me, and I'm the type of person who hates limitations. I know I've been rather successful in my life, but it's something I've had to consider with every life decision I've made. Not because I would be uncomfortable - I've gotten over that part now - but because I feel I would be putting others at a disadvantage. Yes I could apply for that lecturing job, but I'm sure the students won't appreciate a full minute pause between sentences. Yes I can help you with that fund-raiser, but it may be best if someone else reads out the names of the raffle winners. Yes co-worker, I can help you with the English oral examination, but I feel that I should grade whilst you ask the questions, or we will be here all day.
Sigh.
Oh well. I suppose everyone has their flaws. And it's probably best I am limited when talking, or else I'd probably never shut up.
I do enjoy writing though.
So, another picture-less blog. Le sigh ~
I have a speech impediment. A stammer or stutter to be precise. There are three main types of stutterers: First, is the type who repeats a part of the word (h-h-h-hello). Second is the type who repeats the whole word (my my my my name is Paul). And finally, the type who pause in place of repeating (............nice to .....meet you). I am the last of these three types. Out of the three, I think I lucked-out. People just think I'm mentally slower, as oppose to a stuttering mess. Yippee.
No one really knows what causes stuttering. And after years of speech therapy I can tell you its not an easy thing to be trained out of. I don't even know if its a mental or physical issue. I assume mental, but if so then why hasn't my stubbornness allowed me to overcome it in these 22 years? I'm not depressed, I've come from a very loving home. I have no learning disabilities or mental illnesses. I didn't have any health problems as a child. Bar this and my dark sense of humour there isn't much else wrong with me.
I remember it as a child. It was much worse when I was younger, and I detested having to speak, especially aloud in class. I remember having to recite the eight-times-tables in primary school and breaking down into tears. Or trying to read Shakespeare in my third year of secondary school and becoming so embarrassed I just sat back down. As a child it can do a lot of damage to your confidence (though you probably can't tell, because I'm pretty amazing right now).
Nowadays, upon meeting me many people don't realise I have a stammer. It's not that it's not there any more, it's just that through the years you learn to develop tricks. You know, to fool people into thinking you're not an idiot that can't master a basic skill.
"You have a stutter? I've known you for six months and I didn't notice. When you paused I thought you were thinking." - well, I was thinking, but not about the discussion. You don't realise, but when I'm stuck on a word, this little pause gives me time to scan my brain for a phonetically easier word of the same meaning, or a rearrangement of the sentence that is easier and still makes sense. For example:
"It starts at n-" I'm struggling to say 'nine-thirty,' I'll change it to "half nine."
"I went to a theme park during the h-" I'm struggling to say 'holiday,' I'll change to "vacation" (resorted to using American. Arg)!
It's not just about the word itself either. When talking, we apply more stress to key words and emphasise words differently according to their placement in the sentence. If the stress is put on a word with a phonetically harsh sound, I will most likely have difficulty saying it. For example:
"I live in Korea." - 'Korea is the main focus here, and K is a very harsh sound to produce, so I would usually struggle with this. However, change it to:
"I live in Korea, but I'm actually English." - the stress has shifted to 'but,' I will be able to skim over saying 'Korea' and will have an easier time putting emphasis on the softer B sound. The sentence will be easer to say, even though it is longer.
Annoying isn't it? This is constant. Any time I'm speaking, I'm doing this. So understandably if I'm tired or sick I can't be bothered, and my speech is much worse. It probably doesn't sound like a big issue - it's just a few extra seconds between words or a few extra syllables, but actually it's a very frustrating aspect of my life, as I'm guessing it is for people similar to myself.
No one knows why it occurs or what causes it, so no one knows how to fix it. It's not quite a disability, so sometimes people can be impatient or unforgiving. Or they try to offer advice like "slow down" or "breathe more." As kind as the intentions may be, it's completely ignorant. It's like telling a kid with acne to "go wash your face." Acne is due to a hormone imbalance and excess oils. If it was as easy as washing their face, don't you think they would? The same goes for this. If it was as easily fixed, I wouldn't have a problem.
I don't know why I do it, and actually it can be very painful when my neck and jaw are tense all day. And it's so frustrating. As you can tell by my writing, I'm a person with a lot to say. If I were confident with speaking I probably would have chosen a more theatrical path as oppose to the recluse life of an art student. And it was only after so many years of perfecting my tricks that I had the confidence to pursue teaching. Even now I wish I was more eloquent so that I'd have the balls to apply for university lecturing, but university bastards ask a lot of questions.
I don't like discussing my stammer very often. It is the only thing in my life that's limited me, and I'm the type of person who hates limitations. I know I've been rather successful in my life, but it's something I've had to consider with every life decision I've made. Not because I would be uncomfortable - I've gotten over that part now - but because I feel I would be putting others at a disadvantage. Yes I could apply for that lecturing job, but I'm sure the students won't appreciate a full minute pause between sentences. Yes I can help you with that fund-raiser, but it may be best if someone else reads out the names of the raffle winners. Yes co-worker, I can help you with the English oral examination, but I feel that I should grade whilst you ask the questions, or we will be here all day.
Sigh.
Oh well. I suppose everyone has their flaws. And it's probably best I am limited when talking, or else I'd probably never shut up.
I do enjoy writing though.
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