My Top 30 for 2008

Thought I'd make a list of my Top Tunes in my iTunes for 2008. Here's the parameters for the smart playlist I made to get my results (and is sorted by how many times played):

Date Added: From 16/11/2007 To 31/12/2008
Last Played: From 1/1/2008 To 31/12/2008

30: Alcazar / This is the World We Live In
29: 이효리 / U-Go-Girl (featuring 낯선)
28: Josh Gallahan / 1st Strike (Radio Edit)
27: Seal / Amazing (Kaskade Edit)
26: Peter Gabriel / The Tower that ate People (Steve Osborne Mix)
25: iiO vs Freemasons / Rapture vs Love On My Mind
24: Alcazar / This is the World We Live In (Almighty Radio Edit)
23: Scooter / Behind the Cow (Radio Edit)
22: Army of DJ's and Vanessa Amarosi / Absolutely Everybody (Army Liberation Mix)
21: Alphabeat / Fascination (Bimbo Jones Remix)
20: Scooter / I'm Lonely (Radio Edit)
19: Nature One Inc. / Wake Up in Yellow (ATB and Josh Gallahan Short Mix)
18: Moony / Dove - I'll be Loving You
17: ATB / Justify (Club Mix)
16: T-Funk featuring Katie Underwood / Be Together (Video Edit)
15: George Michael / Amazing
14: 태양 / 나만바라봐
13: 빅뱅 / Always (Korean version)
12: Alex Party / Wrap Me Up (Radio Edit)
11: Fedde Le Grand vs M/A/R/R/S / Put Your Hands up for Detroit vs Pump Up the Volume
10: Marcia Hines / You (2005 Radio Edit)
9: September / Cry For You (Spencer and Hill Remix)
8: Scooter / Neverending Story
7: YMGA / Tell It to my Heart (featuring 엄정화)
6. DJ Bobo / Somebody Dance With Me 2002
5. Scooter / And No Matches (Radio Edit)
4. Madonna / 4 Minutes (featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland)
3. Jaybee / Shattered Dreams (featuring Morris) (Radio Edit)
2. Alcazar / Physical (feautring Londonbeat)
1. Se7en / Girls

Other decent tracks in my Top 100:

36: David Guetta / Delerious
40: B-52's / Funplex
41: Kylie Minogue / Wow (CSS Remix)
54: 에픽 하이 / One
62: Yelle / A cause des garçons (TEPR Remix Edit)
67: Daft Punk / Touch It / Technologic (Live)
75: Alex Kunnari / Lifter (JS16 Remix)
84: Daryl Braithwaite / As the Days Go By (Extended Mix)
99: Tim Minchin / Inflatable You

Random 2008 Wrap-up

Saw this on Joia's blog, and thought I could do it too, since it's almost the end of the year, and almost my 28th (29th Korean age) birthday ^^

1) What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?

Went to Japan.

2) Did you keep your New Year's resolutions and will you make more for next year?

I didn't make any, but something that was kinda one was to lose weight. Kinda did that, then came home, and put some back on. haha.

3) What countries did you visit?

South Korea, Japan.

4) What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Can't think of anything, except get a decent job in Australia, which I have got sorted out already - will be working in a primary school, teaching computers.

5) What dates from 2008 will remain etched in your memory and why?

January 1 - My birthday
January 26 - Two of my best friends got married
April 12 - Went to Geoje Island with Byeongseong
June 4 - Went to Japan *^^*
June 14 - Went to Gongju
June 20 - Got my new Macbook
October 18 - Left South Korea
October 19 - Arrived in Australia
December 25 - First Christmas with Family since 2003

6) What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Going to Japan, Improving my Korean, getting a job in an Australian Primary School after getting back from Korea.

7) What was your biggest failure?

Loosing motivation at the gym.

8) Did you suffer illness/injury?

No.

9) What was the best thing you bought?

New Macbook, New Digital Camera.

10) Where did most of your money go?

Travelling (around Korea and to Japan), Retail Therapy ^^

11) What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Meeting friends, and going to new places in Korea with them.

12) What song(s) remind you of 2008?

나만 바라봐 by 태양, Justify by ATB, anything by 빅뱅 (it was everywhere!)

13) Compared to this time last year, are you:

a. happier or sadder? - A bit of both.

b. thinner or fatter? - If you asked me 10 weeks ago, I'd day thinner... but now, I think I'm a little fatter. hehe

c. richer or poorer? - money wise, poorer. experience wise, richer.

14) What do you wish you'd done more of?

Saved money while in Korea. More travelling (I didn't go to 충천북도 and 강원도... there's always next time ^^).

15) What do you wish you'd done less of?

Being lazy.

16) Did you fall in love in 2008?

Hmmm... maybe *^^*

17) How many one-night stands?

None. I behaved myself this year :p

18) What was your favorite TV program?

Don't really watch TV - I'm more of a movies at the cinema person.

19) Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Let's just say, there are a few people I don't waste my time on anymore :p

20) What was the best book you read?

Didn't read any good books this year - only bad, or boring ones.

21) What were your greatest musical discoveries?

빅뱅, 태양, 세븐, 더 자두, 'Tell it to my heart' by YMGA, 'Cry for You (Spencer & Hill Remix)' by September, 'Dove' by Moony.

22) What did you want and get?

Wanted to go to Japan, and made that happen. Wanted to go back to Australia, and made that happen. Wanted to get a job in Australian Primary School for 2009, and that happened by chance *^^*

23) What was your favorite film of the year?

Korean movie: 울학교 이티. English movie, Dark Knight.

24) What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?

I can't remember, and I turned 27 (28 korean age).

25) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Not losing my motivation to go to they gym.

26) What kept you sane?

Friends and travelling (and really fast Korean Internet ^^)

27) Who did you miss?

My good friends in Korea.

28) Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

이효리 is damn hot :p

29) Who was the best new person you met?

Too many to mention.

30) Tell us a valuable lesson you learned in 2008:

You only get one chance on this Earth, so why should you give people more than one chance? ;)

31) Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

That was when you said
"You least expect it"
That was when you asked
How did we get this far
So far

That was when I wanted
To correct it
But I guess there's nothing
Wrong with being wrong
At all

I can't do it any other way
Repeat I'd do it all the same way
And I won't justify
One more time

Christmas Update

My last christmas at home was in 2003, so it was good to have a christmas at home with the family. But, to be honest, I am used to just doing my own thing during Christmas and New Year, especially in Korea, where Christmas isn't really Christmas.

Anyway, since I ate a fuckload bit too much food on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, as of yesterday, i started back on my diet again. The plan is the same as last time - stop eating so much crap, stop snacking as often (and if i do, it's gotta be healthy), have a small dinner, and do some exercise.

I got some cool christmas presents, and also did some shopping on boxing day (boxing day sales ^^), which means I don't have much money until I start my new job in late January - really looking forward to that.

It's been 10 weeks since I've been home. Some of my friends have said that I've got my Australian accent back. But, I do miss Korea - mainly my good friends and hanging out with them, and all the cheap travelling around Korea I used to do. I miss some of the kids from my old workplace, and going to Gimbapnara and chatting with 이모. hehe.

Drive

When I was in Korea, on almost every weekend, I was travelling to meet friends, going to see tourist/historical things, or just for shopping. It's been 8 weeks at home, and it feels weird that I haven't travelled out of the area. So today, I went to Renmark. Renmark is a small-ish town in South Australia, about 140-ish km west of me. I went for the shopping. Renmark has a Big W, and Mildura doesn't. Also, being in South Australia, it has different water restrictions - so, things were a lot greener there.

Here's a few pics:





South Australia is in a different time zone than Victoria - it's 30 minutes behind. It's the longest drive I've had, since I've been home. Driving 130km to Renmark, and then 130km back took a while, but it was nice.

맞고 할래?

Thought I'd make a 맞고 t-shirt. Even printed it up on the special paper, and put it on a t-shirt. If you want the high quality design to make it yourself, just email me ;)


5 Gwang: 15 Points


Do you wanna play matgo?
*^^*

Found some old stuff

While I'm at my parent's house, I found a lot of my old stuff that I had left behind before moving to Melbourne early 2005, and before moving to South Korea in October 2005. One of the things being a folder, with a few "How to Draw Manga/Anime" books, and a few of my attempted drawings. Here's some scans of what I drew:

Recent Update

Found my old Mac, and it still works. It's a Director's Edition PowerMac 5500/250. 250MHz Power PC Processor, 64Mb RAM, 10Gb HDD, AV Kit. Also 4x SCSI CD-Writer.

Another scene from bike riding, on a good day.

A nearby lake, which used to be used for a yachting club.

Other things:
* Had an Echochardiogram (a fancy word for an ultrasound on your heart) on Friday, and a heart specialists appointment this morning. Basically, I'm fine, just gotta loose weight and keep eating all healthy, and stop eating crap, keep up the exercise.
* No news on the job yet. Only 4 school days to go this year - new year starts late Jan.

Let's Make a T-shirt

One new idea, and one re-designed idea:

I don't know English, too.


Korean Beginner: Please speak Slowly

Creamy Thai Chicken

Every now and then, I "cheat", and buy sauces to make stir fries and stuff, but I normally mess with the recipe on the back, just for something to do. So, here's what I did:

Ingredients:

1 Masterfoods Creamy Thai Chicken Recipe Base
1 can of Coconut Milk
500g of Chicken
1 red onion
1 red capsicum
2 sticks of celery
1 of 2 large handful of snow peas
enough rice
a bit of garlic, ginger and coriander.
a small lemon

What to do:

Get some rice on the go.

Get a large enough bowl (that will fit your chicken in after you cut it up), and squeeze the juice of the lemon into it. then add some coriander, ginger and garlic to the lemon juice, and mix it all in together.

I saw these in the supermarket, and thought it was decent ^^ I didn't add any chili, since a family member gets heartburn from it.

Once that's all mixed up, cut up the chicken into strips, and then put it in the bowl, and mix the marinade all though, so that it's covering everything. Put a lid on it, and put it in the fridge. If you want a stronger flavor in the chicken, maybe do this 12 hours before you wanna cook.

Slice up the celery sticks, red capsicum and red onion. If you want a bit of seasoning, just put a bit of salt and pepper in, and mix it around.

Wash the snow peas.

Get a wok super hot, and put in a bit of olive oil, and when that's hot enough, put the chicken in, and fry it until it's cooked, or until it's golden brown (your choice ^^).

When the chicken is done, add in the vegetables, and stir fry for a couple of minutes. If you don't like your vegetables as crunchy as I do, then stir fry for a bit longer.

Then, add in the snow peas and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the Creamy Thai Curry recipe base, and also about 180 - 200mL of Coconut cream, mix, and them simmer for 8-10 minutes.

I randomly found some frozen peas in the freezer (obviously), and added them in.

After you think the sauce it thick enough, put some rice on a plate, and also the stir fry you just made.

Other serving ideas could be, instead of with rice, drop in some Hokkien noodles about 3 mins before it's finished. Or even, keep simmering until the sauce is really thick, and then serve in some greek yiros wraps (I plan on doing that with the left overs ^^)

Vegetable Garden - Day 31

Here's some updates from the vegetable garden.





Some seeds haven't grown yet. I think I sewed them too deep. Others are doing really well. The corn is doing really well ^^

I did a bit of weeding yesterday, especially around the carrots and some of the lettuces, just so that I could see what was going on. I also transplanted some of the red onions to a new place, so that they would have some room.