davidsmeaton.com

wow … 2008 was a hell of a year. for me, it was probably the busiest and craziest year of my life.

the year started with a bang. first came the big d, followed by quitting my university job and starting work at an adult education school. i really missed my university position. it was such a fun, cruisy job. moving to the adult school was hell on earth. i spent the entire year waking up at 5.40 am, having to be at school by 6.20 am. i began classes every day at 6.30 am.  the school had its ups and downs. the schedule was terrible, but my students were always fantastic. the management was moronic, but the actual classes were fairly easy … overall, however, i’ll be very glad to leave that school … worst. job. ever.

i’ve saved a lot of money this year … a bi-products of working like a dog. that’s definitely been the biggest highlight of the year, since it has opened up a lot of doors in terms of future options. it’s hard to believe that i worked four jobs this year. i had money coming in from everywhere. just when i thought i couldn’t get busier, i’d pick up a job editing a thousand page textbook, or some other assignment which would keep me up late at night, make me tired and grumpy, but keep the bank account ticking along nicely. i have to be honest and i can definitely say that i know now how it feels to be korean - working long hours, getting very little sleep, having no social life, and focusing on the money … it’s a terrible way to live, and i definitely couldn’t do it forever.

this has also been a good year for photography. i picked up a few odd jobs, made a little bit of money, bought some lenses and gear, started a photography club, published columns in korea’s english newspaper, made a bunch of friends and taken heaps of photos. i’ve learned a lot and had a lot of fun with photography this year. i think i’ve improved and i can take away a lot more skills. but i’ve still got a lot to learn, especially with editing, but there’s plenty of time to work on that.

i bought my first leica this year. my film camera was so much fun … and just what i needed to mix things up a bit. i got to play with film, as well as do some printing and developing. the leica is going with craig back to australia. hopefully he’ll get some use out of it for the next few years.

my website has done well. i’ve started getting traffic and making a few friends. the site has been through a few redesigns as i try and find my style. the design that i’ve got now is hopefully the design that i will keep for a while. it’s fantastically minimal. i bought a few domains and played around with internet stuff.

i don’t usually talk about my relationships on my blog, but i did have a good relationship this year. i know i have not always been a perfect guy, but i’ve learned a lot from my mistakes.

i started reading books again, which was nice. i tried to learn the ukulele, but gave up. i tried to learn korean and spanish, but gave up. i tried to spend more time learning php and css, but gave up too. i attribute my failures to a lack of sleep and lack of time, rather than a lack of willpower!

liverpool had a good year. despite the lack of trophies, they fought hard and played well. the signings of torres and keane have been huge for the club. liverpool finish the year on top of the table, for the first time in 12 years. here’s hoping that they can hold on until may and take home the league title.

rubberchicken winging his way to korea in december was the cherry on the cake. i hadn’t seen my little buddy in three years, so it was good to hang out with him. happy new years mate!

the year will finish tonight and now i have to look forward to 2009.

my resolutions are to travel, take more photos, learn spanish, work as little as possible. i’m not a big ‘resolutions’ person, and 2009 is a difficult year to make promises, but i’m hoping that it’ll be a good year with much more fun and much more freedom.

to all my friends and family, happy new year. i wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009.

yeah, banking is becoming complicated. it’s not the banking itself, but the fact that the korean won is no longer reliable. i’ve opened two foreign currency accounts (dollars and euros) and i’m going to shift my savings into those accounts.

so i’ll spend my free time watching the exchange rate and picking better days to move money. it’s not perfect, and i’m going to lose some on exchange … thanks to the korean won diving like an italian football player … but i’ll do what i can to make the most of it.

i went out for dinner with some friends last night. we headed to a restaurant and ate heaps of australian beef. of course, the beef went down very well … and there was lots of soju to go with it. i got a little pissy, but i had a good time.

when i woke up this morning i felt a little fuzzy. but the hangover wasn’t bad and i recovered quickly. school was easy today, since it’s the last day of the month and all my students have returned to their university studies. so i finished early and headed out to do some errands.

on my list of things to do was get a few shots. i was due for my second hep B shot, which i got done, and i headed to a children’s hosital for a hep A injection. in 5 months i get my last hep B shot and in 6 months i get my second (and last) hep A shot … i also need a yellow fever injection (which is probably going to make me sick) but it is difficult to get in korea. so i’ll probably get it abroad.

in other news, the korean won is diving like crazy. last week it was 1080 won to the US dollar, now it’s 1130 won. while it doesn’t affect my savings (which are already in US$) it means that i’ll be losing money on my income for the next six months … damn it!

there’s talk of a second economic crisis (only 10 years after the IMF last intervened and bailed out korea’s ridiculously over-inflated economy). the IMF has warned korea numerous times to control their economy. foreign companies are pulling out their investments and it’s widely predicted that shit and fan will meet.

i just hope the country can hold itself together for 6 months … or the won recovers. i really don’t want this to explode before i get out.

this. this is seriously one of the best short videos i’ve ever seen. i stumbled across it and i’m really glad that i did. i don’t know if it’s possible to understand how profound this is. what’s more, this sums up my opinions about life and the highly ravenous approach to life in korea.

if those thoughts aren’t enough to grab you, perhaps you’ll be more interested to know that it’s narrated by alan watts (famous buddhist philosopher) and animated by trey parker and matt stone (creators of southpark).

enjoy …

i’m really looking forward to weekends … it’s the only thing keeping me going at the moment.

last week was busy, but fairly productive. i banked a full month’s salary and there’s another salary and $760 in extra teaching to come. i’ve picked up a 4 hour lecture at a training institute which will be fun. last night i went out with some students. we drank sake and kiwi soju. we talked and laughed, then headed to a singing room. it was really funny to watch everyone sing and dance. i didn’t get home until 2am, which is all good cause i slept until nearly 1pm! lol

i got in contact with a cricket club in korea. they practice most saturday afternoons and play most sundays. so next weekend i plan on heading out and roll the arm over in the practice nets. i might see if i can get a couple of games … ought to be fun.

today i’ll probably stick close to home. i might head to the pc room and play warrock for a while. it’s more fun to play at the pc rooms (so i’ve discovered). tomorrow i’m meeting a friend from the hanbok fashion show. we’re having lunch together and i’ll give her the cd of images from the event.

aside from that, nothing much is planned … clean my micro apartment, chat to senor culo, shoot koreans, sleep, count down the days.

wow … what a week! i’ve been out and done more drinking than i usually do.

last night i met up with gary again. i got my phone back (cause i’m a dumb shit and left it at his house) and we had dinner at outback steakhouse. we downed 2 pitchers of beer with dinner and then moved on to another bar where we talked to the cute bar girls. we drank beer and tequila, and got pretty pissed. gary was having fun stumbling around the room, haha, until we finally called it a night. he headed home in a cab and i went back to the bar to finish my last beer.

for me, that’s a pretty roaring new years. otherwise, i’d have spent it in my dogbox hotel room, drinking beers and watching tv.

resolutions? yeah, i have a few.

• diet - i will buy a blender and i’m going to eat fruit shakes. with the exception of going out for dinner with friends, all i’m allowed to eat (once i move into my new apartment this friday) is blended fruit drinks.

• exercise - i might join the gym in my school’s building. if i have time i’ll go to the gym. if not, there have been a few exercise bicycles for sale on eslcafe. i might buy one of those and just ride it at home and do situps. either way, i’m resolving to do some regular exercise.

• money -  i’m going to get my finances in order and together. by december 2008, i will have over $70,000 in the bank. that depends on me being able to keep both of my jobs.

• countdown - i’m going to make serious plans to leave this country. it will happen in march 2009. this is my time to plan.

• love - i’ll be officially divorced on january 2nd (i think). i have already made plans regarding my love life. however, i’m not going to reveal that just yet.

• photography - i’m not going to make stupid plans, like photo a day, which i can’t keep up. but i will resolve to get off my ass and shoot every weekend. i’ll go somewhere, it doesn’t matter, and take some photos. as well as the weekly photo challenge articles, i’ll definitely post photos to my blog at least once a week. i’ll start carrying my camera more often and taking photos whenever i can.

• time - finally, i want to make better use of my time in general. rather than playing computer games, i’ll try and spend more time reading books, or playing my guitar. i want to get offline more and become less reliant on the internet. i spent a lot of time last year just sitting in front of the computer. i resolve not to do that this year.

this will be a busy year for me. with two full time jobs and big things on the horizon … but hopefully i can manage it all and make the most of it.

happy new year to all of my family, friends and coworkers. take care and be safe!!

i suppose it’s time to let the cat out of the bag. actually, the cat has left, along with my wife, and moved back home with her family.

sujoung and i are officially separated. last weekend things came to a grinding halt when i told her i was unhappy with our marriage. 60% of my decision was based on the fact that we haven’t had children yet. the other 40% was because we have spent the last 6 months fighting about everything. in all honestly, our lives had come down to doing nothing but work, fight, fuck, sleep. we didn’t talk much, we didn’t do anything interesting, we didn’t try and please each other.

having said that, i know i’m equally to blame for the demise of my marriage.

so, a week later, we’ve fought some more, but finally agreed on how to part company. initially, there was a lot of disagreement over money we had saved and money we owed. sujoung’s keeping most of the money and i’m paying the debts. it’s quite lopsided, in her advantage, but i simply don’t care any more. my biggest  concern was keeping my visa so that i could stay and earn some more money. initially i thought i’d lose my visa if we divorced. however, i’ve discovered that i can keep my visa until it expires in 2010.

i won’t stay in korea that long though. i’ve already laid out plans to leave korea in march 2009. hopefully (if all goes to plan) i’ll bank enough money to travel for a year and still have enough cash to set myself up somewhere afterwards.

on saturday, sujoung moved out. she took the cat, her clothes and whatever else she wanted to keep. she kept most things and left behind my stuff and a few things she couldn’t use. this coming sunday i’ll move to my new apartment. tomorrow we go to the court house and begin divorce proceedings. first, we have to file a paper stating that we’ve made our agreements (finances, kids, etc) and then we apply to see a judge. that happens after a waiting period (i’m not sure how long).

then, i’m officially a single man, by way of being divorced.

i’m not very proud of this part of my life. but there’s nothing i can do except make the most of it.

goodbye sujoung …

um … something strange happened the other day, and i think it may have been a moment of clarity in my relationship.

we were talking about having children … our desire to have them, but our misfortune that we’ve not yet been able to … and sujoung, over dinner and a few drinks, said that if i left her (to marry another woman and have children) then she would understand.

i didn’t really answer, because i was trying to let that remark sink in … but thinking about it later, i’m pretty sure that sujoung was (maybe still is) giving me a way out. a few times lately i have felt that she’s not happy either. sometimes it’s the look on her face. sometimes it’s the way we talk, or if we have a fight.

initially, i believed that leaving sujoung would be a battle and a horrible fight over money, possessions and the cat. however now i think that if i tell her i’m leaving, she’ll be upset, but deep down she might even be happy that it’s done.

i don’t know that for sure … but since she mentioned it a few days ago, and the feelings i’ve got from her about different things, i’m starting to see more to it than i had before.

i checked my account yesterday and there’s 9.4 million won in there. with the 400,000 won that comes in next week, i’ll have close to the 10 million that i need to start my saving plan.

if all goes according to plan, i should finish with exactly US$100,000.

update - july 10th, there’s $12,500 in the account.

update - july 11th, i had to give $2,500 to sujoung’s mother, but i’m assured that the money will be put back, with a few thousand extra. currently $10,700 in the account.

gone backwards, again … took out $1000 from the account to buy the umpc. however, that money will be replaced. sujoung has promised the $1000 for the computer, plus an extra $4000 to cover the money taken out for her mother. so all up, i should go ahead by about $1500 out if it all.

savings plan … what’s possible with a little effort!!

may 10,000
june 2,500
july 2,500
august 2,500
september 2,500
october 2,500
november 2,500
————–
sub-total 25,000

december 4,000
january 4,000
february 4,000
————–
sub-total 37,000

march 4,500
april 4,500
may 4,500
june 4,500
july 4,500
august 4,500
september 4,500
october 4,500
november 4,500
december 4,500
january 4,500
february 4,500
————–
sub-total 91,000

bonuses

eulji pension 5,000
month salary 2,500
————–
grand total 98,000