ten things i'm into this week:

10 things I’m into this week: in no particular rank or order

Apricots. They are juicy and perfect right now and I think they are so amazing.

Pinterest.com: A really great visual bookmarking website that is full of inspiration and ideas for organization and style. I particularly love the gardening section!

8tracks and music in general. As always.

Painting with watercolors, even though I’m not very experienced there is something really rewarding about transforming all that white paper into something colorful. Just add water…

the masterpieces of Josh, Nicole, and Ryan

Spanish verbs. Yes, it’s true, here in Korea Josh and I are both plugging away at our Spanish skills. I’ve been going through my flashcards like a diligent college student (oh I remember those days), and Josh is glued to Rosetta Stone. Josh made a good point that learning a language feels a lot easier now that we are teaching it. We clearly can see the results in our students, and all it takes is practice and repetition and some commitment. And how nice it will be to speak in the native tongue if we find ourselves in Spain next year….

Planning trips. This is so fun, of course it is! I have been reading and researching all that I can about Vietnam and Beijing and searching for airfare, how to get our visas, places to stay, and what section of the Mekong Delta to take a river cruise up! Pretty exciting stuff.

M*A*S*H. yes the old TV show. We have watched a couple old episodes from this show in the past few days. It is funny, it is goofy, it takes place near Seoul, and so a lot of names of places are referenced.

Silly you tube videos.  Like this one and this and also this. I think that by teaching middle school students I am slowly adopting their love for silly viral internet videos. I want to find the funniest, stupidest, most entertaining thing I can to show my classes and I always laugh the first few times I watch them. By the end of the week I’ve usually seen each video 20 times, so it does lose a little of it’s luster…

Bulgarian food at Zelen. This is an incredible restaurant in Iteawon, just north of the Han River. Josh and I shared a stellar dinner with Mr. Ryan McCoy and Cat (in town from Portland! Yay!) . It was by far the nicest night all summer, it had rained for a few days then cleared up, so the air was clean and the humidity was low, we sat outside on their garden terrace on top of a hill and drank sparkling wine and ate like royalty. I had pork-something-amazing with smoked cheese and veggies and stuffed tomatoes. Delicious. I love long dinners that last for hours into the night, full of good conversation, good food, good drinks and good energy.

Chess. The games are getting more intense and more frequent and I can tell we are learning a lot. I am glad that I began to play at such an early age, against my dad and my brother. My brother can kick my ass in about five minutes, but he could do that to probably almost anybody. I still enjoy playing him and usually get to do so a few games a week. Josh and I are a closer match, but he’s got far more wins against me than I do him (I move to hastily I think, or some other excuse…).

What are you into this week?

R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron

I heard the news today that Gil Scott-Heron passed away. I have been a fan of this talented man for his music and his words. He did such great things in his life... and he likely touched millions of ears and gave hope and inspiration to those listening. His works will undoubtedly live on, and he will be supremely mourned, and yet his death will also be celebrated, because in death is some newness (i hope)! RIP Gil Scott-Heron.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised


You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.


The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.


The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.


There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.


There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.


Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.


There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.


The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.


The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

making mixes

As I have mentioned before I dig the website 8tracks. It's easy to find new music or listen to old stuff you already like. People post hundreds of mixes a day, usually themed in some way, or sticking to a genre or two. Danielle made a killer mix for..... ME! How sweet it is to have friends that do wonderful things like this! You can listen to it here. Thanks Danilelle! 


Her mix in turn inspired me to make my own, for whom? You guessed.... Danielle Premo! And it also inspired me to make many more, for my friends, my family, my loved ones, or to pay attention to memories and certain times in my life. I invite any and all to join me in this project, make your own mixes, and feel free to share them here! Who says that the awesome idea of mixtapes has to be over simply because we have made our music smaller to carry around? 


"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." -Abraham Lincoln

Some music love for all you music lovers!!

I spend my idle time online "surfing the web" for new and interesting music. Often I am led astray or I spend way too much time searching for that one song I can't remember the title or artist of, yet there are times I find these gems, and I would like to share them with you. So please enjoy my favorite music websites and blogs!

I love KBOO! Lucky for me they are available streaming online, or I would be having kboo withdrawals. The local, grass roots, liberal, free speech, volunteer run kick-ass radio station from good ol' SE Portland, this radio station has so much great stuff, music and otherwise. Support your local KBOO!

Some music blogs that I love are listed below.

Aurgasm: most of the music reviewed and highlighted on this site is listen worthy, and furthermore, all of it is available for free down load, right from the site, so check out their archives and genre list.  The main writers periodically make sweet mixes as well. 

ZZK Records: I discovered this label last summer by going on a whim to a show at Rotture and being overwhelmed by the goodness of the sound and energy. I think they had been described in some concert fliers as "cumbia dubstep", and that indeed they were, and so much more, these guys work together to create a huge world beat sound, very heavy on the bass. 

Furl Tracks: I have to give this shout out to my friend, the furl #1, Noah Mock for creating and maintaining a sweet blog that highlights obscure gems from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. From Afrobeat to Garage, and Psyche to Soul to Metal, Furl tracks is a good stop for learning about something you should already know. 

Abstract Earth Project: For my Portland poeple... this is essential for finding the best electronic/DJ shows in Portland. I can't even look at this website without instantly feeling jealous and wishing for the Portland music scene to be instantly transported to Seoul. So my lucky friends, just about every show on here is worth going to, and they have a nifty free music section!


Pelski: I just recently discovered this blog, and found it to be highlighting loads of music that I already love, while mentioning quite a lot that I didn't know. Based out of the UK. There is a long list of all the artists reviewed on the left side of the page, pretty sweet. 

In addition to the myriad of cool music blogs to be perused, there are some great music resources. Here are some that I frequent regularly:

Soundcloud is a place where artist of any genre and level of popularity can drop their tracks and see them visualized, search for a song, or explore the genre list. Most songs are available for free download, just look for the link that says "download" right on the track player. 

8 tracks I love this site, I don't know how long it has been around, but I'm sorry that I didn't know about it years ago! I have been selecting random mixes from here for about a year, and am hoping to start adding some of my own very soon. One of my favorite mixes right now is: Afrocentric give it a listen if you have time! 

As always, youtube.com has a wealth of cool videos, you just have to weed through the vast sea of lame or poorly done videos. Be diligent! Here's a cool one that caught my eye last year from the amazing poet, writer, and musician Gil Scott-Heron, back on the scene after a 16 year hiatus.

"I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music."  ~ George Eliot (1819-1880)