You were cool

Why don't I blog more? Blogging is probably the easiest way to express yourself on the internet. You don't need anything beyond basic literacy. And yet I don't really do anything with my blog because... reasons? Who fucking knows.

I need to stop consuming and start producing. I'm starting to worry I've become a vacuum, a void free from anything substantial or interesting. What if my personality is just garbage? What if my personality is only skin-deep? What am I going to do with myself?

Deep questions. Something to think about while lying awake at 3am (prime time for thinking horrible things apparently).

But anyway, I'm back in Korea again for a non-consecutive second year. This lovely picture above was taken from the outskirts of my neighbourhood and holy hannah is it ever nice. The temple, I mean. The neighbourhood is the typical Korean mishmash of nice, new houses beside nice, old houses beside old houses in disrepair beside corner stores beside hair salons beside rundown apartment buildings (where I live) beside restaurants beside etc. etc.

Both neighbourhoods I've lived in have been like this. Maybe it's not fair to call it a "typical Korean neighbourhood" -- maybe it's more fair to say "typical urban neighbourhood in this particular part of Korea although maybe your neighbourhood is different who knows also I don't care" you pedantic weirdo*.

Both have been tucked away from the main roads, usually down winding narrow roads that don't have any sidewalks so you end up sharing the same road with cars, delivery trucks, bikes, scooters, roving packs of adjosshis, fruit trucks, delivery bikes, another car, and human spittle (if you're lucky)(damn you adjosshis!!!!). The upside of this however is you become desensitized to cars passing slowly within an inch or less from your person and that's basically a super power. I'm not sure how it could be used to fight crime but it does make you look like a total badass.

But hell this isn't going to be one of those foreigner blogs where the blogger just spends her time moaning about Korea -- I plan to complain about just about everything so buckle up for that hey wait where are you going.

It took me a fucking age to work out how to work Instagram not gonna lie.

I'm glad to be back and I'm happy to see my friends again and to return to my old stomping grounds, especially the ones in Seoul. I went to Hongdae last night to see a gig a friend of mine was playing at. The bands were all foreigner bands (at least the ones I saw were) and they were all incredible. But I have to give special mention (and a shameless plug) to my extremely talented friend and her band, The Infinite Things. The gig itself was a fundraiser for the Butterfly Fund, a charity founded by former 'comfort women' to provide assistance to other women raped during times of war, something I am definitely interested in supporting.

Man my writing has gotten really stiff. It took me way too long to craft that last paragraph. I don't know if I should keep pushing myself to write diary-esque entries like that in order to improve or if I should stick to what I'm good at but what am I good at anyway??? so many questions...

But attending that gig (I never not feel ridiculous calling a show a "gig" and I'm not sure why, it's a perfectly acceptable word right??) and seeing my friend look so happy and watching all those creative types doing what they loved of course made me think about myself and how long it's been since I've actually produced anything. I mean, I cook loads and loads but that's not really the same.

Although it is something I'm passionate about. Hmm.

That's why I've returned to this blog. I'm going to make an effort to write in it more frequently and hopefully in doing so I'll improve my writing.

That's all I got. Hongdae is great though and I missed it a lot. I mean, I'll always love downtown Toronto and Queen West (esp Parkdale) in particular but there's just something special about Hongdae. Maybe it's the booze, or the outside jam sessions in the children's park, or the dance clubs (well, all the ones except for Cocoon maybe), or the fact that you can basically stumble into any bar/club in Hongdae and find a show, or the cool boutique-y stores, or the graffiti, or the Makgeoli man. Music and booze, two of my favourite things.

SO TO SUM UP: I am maybe dead inside, Hongdae rules, my neighbourhood is gross but charming.

* Hurling abuse at imaginary readers is a great way to bump up your pageviews right