My brother and I.  I lurve him!  [In one of the Facebook photos of us, he captions: "At least I'm the second best looking person in my family."  Awww...]

$1 = 1 token = 1 taste = 1/3 of a plastic mug.  $20 package = 1 mug and 14 tokens.

We tried to follow Gandalf through the crowd, hoping he’d lead us to the good beers.  Unfortunately, we easily lost him.  He is a wizard, afterall.

Cheers!

And God said, “Let there be beer.”

We ran into Asians… Johnny is surprised.

Some of those Asians were weird.  We tried not to hold it against her because she’s also Lao and a family friend.

Wait!  Is that a token?  No… it’s just a dirty bottle cap.  No more tokens.  See you next year.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been interested in gardens and plants.  In a science class in elementary school, my classmates and I were given lima beans, a wet paper towel, and a ziplock bag.  The seeds were placed inside and for the next couple of days, we were taught about the different parts of a plant.  I can remember thinking, “Holy cow, this is amazing!  All you have to do is add water to this seed and eventually you’ll get a full sized plant?”  Even when we had to grow grass in dixie cups for Easter baskets, I couldn’t believe the other third graders weren’t as amazed by “life” as I was.  By no means am I a horticulturist or an avid gardener, but even now, I love plants.

I guess some people are rich enough to have hot tubs in their yards.  I’ll just look.

[Above left]  One of the good purchases of the day was a Circlehoe, which has received lots of good press nationaly.  [Above right]  Then there were the Thai straw mats being sold for $70-$80.  My mom nearly had a heart attack when she saw the price.  We have some at the house now, and they were bought for $20-$30 in L.A.

My mom bought bulbs, seeds, a fig tree, a blueberry bush, pruning shears, and the Circlehoe.  She would have bought more, but we came on public transportation – Portland’s light rail system, MAX.

On the ride home, I noticed this poem above us.

Thanks to YouTube, below are some of the acts from the show.  I have no idea what the woman in white was singing about, but the song was damn catchy.  After the show, Thomas, Kristy, and I were singing the only word we recognized from the song: Alegria.  Before attending the show, I thought it was called “al leg ria,” as in a man’s name, a lower appendage, and the last syllable of the name Gloria.  Boy, was this American bumpkin’ ever wrong.  I was soon embarrassed to find out how much I butchered this word.  It should have rolled off my tongue as “ahl leg rhee ahhh.”  See below:

[audio:Alegria.mp3]

[youtube]http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=smkiSJf2cHE[/youtube]

If there was to be one act we liked the least, it would be the two Mongolian contortionists.  Is it just me, or does it seem unnatural to see someone sitting on their own head???  Yikes!

[youtube]http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=8nEsgpGJbr4[/youtube]

After the show, we showed up at Star Chef with our party of 12.  At Star Chef, the salad is always the belle of the party:

Shrimp:  Before and After

Me: Before (dinner) and After

Definitely check out Cirque du Soleil while they’re still in town.  If nothing else, their churros are fantastic!

[View the night's Flickr album here.]

The guys went as Mexican firefighters – Jos-A (José), Jos-B, and Jos-C.

I went as a pirate.  Reardon and Barbara (pictured above) went as Hall and Oates.

Soju having wine.

To my right is Ji-won, and my left was Courtney (aka Janis Joplin).

Jim Carey and Sara Palin.

(too bad it was blurry.)

I’m not sure how many tickets are still available for the party, but more information can be found on their website.

I had today off and headed down to Hangnyeoul Station (Line 3) around noon.  Today’s shows were scheduled for 1:00pm, 3:00pm, and 4:00pm.  I met Mike near the front door and picked up my press pass.  Yes, you read that right.  Press pass! I didn’t have a backstage pass like Mike, but being “press” was good enough for me.  We breezed through the line and set up camp in the Press Room.  I met another photographer and friend of Mike’s named Denise.  I didn’t know it until I arrived, but I ended up shooting all three shows at the end of the runway with Denise’s 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, mounted on Mike’s Manfrotto monopod.

The press room and some snacks in between shows.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the actual pictures taken during the show.  Mike needs to post process the pictures, including putting the FatManSeoul watermark on them first.  Eventually, they’ll be available to view at FeetManSeoul.com.

I liked both of these sweet wines, but the one on the right had a nicer after taste.

Salad and carrot soup.

The JoongAng Media Network, consisting of some 30 leading media outlets including the JoongAng Ilbo and JoongAng Daily newspapers, is set to hold its fourth Charity Flea Market, WeAJa, on Sunday, Oct 12, 2008 at Seoul’s World Cup Stadium.

The event will also take place in three other major cities around the nation – Busan (at Haeundae Cinetown), Daejeon (at Daejeon City Hall, South Gate Plaza) and Jeonju (at the plaza in front of the North Jeolla Provincial Government Office).

The name WeAJa is derived from the three social work groups involved in the event “We” represents We Start, a campaign th provide educational assistance to children from low-income families, “A” stands for the Arerumdaun Gage, or the Beautiful Store, a nonprofit chain that sells donated goods and uses the proceeds for charity activities; and “Ja” is for the volunteer activities carried out by the JoongAng Ilbo.

At the event, which also marks the 43rd anniversary of the foundation of the JoongAng Ilbo, goods donated by citizens, corporations and organizations will be sold and the proceeds contributed to the We Start campaign.

Over 300,000 people in four cities are expected to attend this year’s market.  [source]

While bowling, whenever anyone got a strike, he/she had to do a little dance.  I think I danced twice, and the number one dancer was probably Eddie.  Ras has been enjoying bowling lately and wants to start a bowling night this fall.

Here’s a video of us sitting down for dinner, with a guest appearance by Ms. Lee Hyori herself.

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vcbcnXHWM_U[/youtube]

Most of the pictures below are from The Crazy Duck bar in Suwon.

Ras and I brought our umbrella out during Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”

The guys were crazy.