March 21, 2003

• Hi all

  
  

  I'm not sure where the last week has gone. Crista and I are both still sick. A trip to the doctor confirmed Bronchitis, which on top of the flu has kind of drained away all of our energy. Now that my lungs and sinuses are clearing up, my asthma has decided to act up, so I've been using my inhaler and waiting for all of this to go away........

  
  

  Today is a triple-threat -- Friday (Yay!), payday (Yay!), and Baha'i New Year (Yay!). This also means that the yearly period of fasting is over, so I can once again munch on the candy given by my students, and sip coffee between classes. This weekend, we're taking a little trip to Daegu, for a New Year's gathering with the Baha'is there.

  
  

  I also have to get to the bank and transfer some money to Canada. The other day, I summoned the courage to compare the current value of my salary to what it was worth when we arrived here 5 months ago. It's worth $300 less every month, thanks to North Korea's recent obnoxious behaviour. While that may not sound like too much money to some of the more affluent of you, I can assure you than it's a big pain in the arse for us. However, it's something we can't afect in the slightest, so there's no point in worrying. All we can do is hope that it doesn't slide too much more...

  
  

  One of the biggest achievements I've had lately is that I finally finished another song! As you may remember, I write abysmally slow when it comes to songs, and I have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 35 or 40 of them currently in various stages of completion. Lately, I've been forcing myself to sit down and write for at least an hour several times a week. It seems to be working. If I can keep this up, hopefully I can make a dent in my incomplete song envelope. Ideally, I need to finish around 10 or 12 of the sturdiest songs during the next while. I haven't finished that many songs in the last 2 years, but I want to finish them in the next month or two. Should be interesting to see if I can do it. If only I had Coujeaux's gift for speed-writing. I can write a 2000-word research paper in one sitting, but songs take forever...

  
  

  Spring is starting to show itself here. They're plowing the rice fields in preparation for planting, grass is green, and there are buds on the trees. It's been hitting 18 or 20 degrees (Celsius) during the days, although the evenings remain cool. We finally managed to climb the mountain behind town two weekends ago, and it was great. I'll post something some time on the subject of Koreans and mountains... Anyhow, I've been wanting to get up there ever since we arrived. It was gorgeous. The view was spectacular, especially since several days of rain had washed all the crap out of the air. I didn't have the camera with me, but that's okay since it gives me an excuse to go back soon. I'm going to take a multi-shot panorama simailar to the one you may have seen on my pictures website. If it turns out well, I'm going to have it enlarged to 8x10s.

  
  

  And in one final bit of news, Byron and I may be completely revamping and rereleasing the first Ticklish Brother CD. At the request of an enthusiastic producer and promoter, we'd be cutting and adding, remastering, rerecording, and repackaging the thing. It would be a vastly different beast. Not completely sure it's going to happen, but it seems likely. This would make it much more commercially viable, and allow us to take advantage of some opportunities which have been opening up recently in Canada and Europe. Plus, it would make a great springboard for the second CD (for which I've been writing the aforementioned songs...).

  
  

  OK, well, I'm sure that's enough of a mouthful for now. I hope today finds you happy and healthy. Thanks for dropping by!

  
  

  Take care
  -Justin-

  • 4:37 am
  • 13 Comments