Psy sells beer, Psy sells soju

Oppan pay me style

Heeeeyyyyy, sexy paycheck

  And just about anything else you can think of.  No different from any other crappy Korean celebrity really.  I remember once watching five commercials in a row where Kim Yun-ah was shilling for everything from tampons to washing machines to beer.  Hell, make a buck while you can, I guess.  The Avett Brothers were in a Gap ad.  Ouch?

Snow-yeon

  It's a snowy day in Swow-yeon, Snow-je Island.  Nyuk.  Big wet snow.  Everything came to a halt today, and I did some amazing birding in the back fields.  Read all about it in a bit on my bird blog.  Snow!

Best gloves ever

  By the time I got to Okpo yesterday (halfway to my birding destination), my hands were frozen solid.  My gloves are great for everything, except driving a motorcycle in December.  So I popped into the local uniform store to see what they had - have I ever mentioned that I love uniform stores?  I used to do a lot of my clothes shopping in em.  So I instantly grab these fluff-filled, yellow suede, cowboy-looking beasts, worried they'd be expensive.  '6,000 won', the lady said.  Uh, that's like 5$.  I'll take em.  Holy shit, best gloves EVER.  They're a bit bulky and make me beep the horn when I'm grabbing the clutch about half the time, but  so what.  And they look great too.

Submerged pig head

  What an absolute fucking horror.

Mainland birdin n ragin with JP

Korean photographers snapping away at glamour birds, while JP and The Doc observe the important birds.

Scenic Gimhae

Gim-hey!

Brambling

Dead cormorant

Dead cormorant 2

Squadron of live cormorants at dawn

White-tailed Sea Eagle

Swan Goose

Whooper Swan

Whooer Swan (immature)

  I had a shit week last week, and I needed a shit-kickin weekend.  I had one.  JP is a good person to know, he's the realest and kindest person I know, and he enjoys birding, the rock n roll, and he's been known to party every now and again.  And the Ewoks.  We lost touch over the summer, but we've hung a few times over the past few months.  Anyway, the weekend was sick in so many ways.  We met some sweet birds, got wind/frostburn at dawn, and got to hang with 'The Doc', who is ridiculously smart.  And I rule at darts.  Thank you, Mr. Patterson's grades 7-9 lunchtime darts club, thank you.  I am rambling.

A cold day in Geoje

  It's X-mas night here in Geoje.  It's been cold, the canal outside is freezing up.  I've spent the last couple of days lazy-birding round town, and laying low, as I do.  As much as it sucks being alone at this time of year, I can't complain or feel sorry for myself, as I had planned to do.  Die Hard is on TV, I've got Bailey's and some of my infamous beer stew stinking up my hovel.  Life ain't bad, when it comes down to it.  2013 is full of huge unknowns and annoying challenges, so good.  I need to be pushed.  Now - what the hell am I gonna do for the next week?  Fucked if I know.
  That being said, bah humbug.

Heap o bikes

  Koreans are crap at parking bikes.  Heh, I don't think I rant about this place overly much, as it's just too easy to do, but someone called me out on it the other day.  Maybe I rant about everywhere I am.  In any case, thanks for the scolding, everyone needs to be put in their place now and again.

Shit-tickets dog-man

Stick ME in your arse!

  On the subject of shit, I'm stuck on shitty Geoje for x-mas, and not pleased about it.  I am pleased about the long-weekend of birding insanity that awaits me.  I'll be hitting up Gimhae tomorrow to meet up with JP, and we're gonna knock back some seasonal libations.  Then we'll sleep in through the morning rain and hit up a nearby mountain to check for Asian Rosy Finch.  Sunday will see us driving up to Junam with 'The Doc' and an old Irish guy, who must be awesome, cuz all Irish people are.  Then back to Geoje in time to be grinchy, for a night of drinking a bunch of Bailey's, listening to 'Fairytale of New York' on repeat, eating festive tuna on crackers, watching crappy x-mas flics, and yelling 'Bah humbug'.  I can't fuckin' wait!
  I had a good x-mas at home last year.  The year before that, I got food poisoning and watched movies all deliriously, but it was cool, and some folks were cool enough to bring me a little tree, and some other sundries.  Good ole Jeju, I miss the shit out of those days, I knew I would.

Best movers ever

  This actually made my day.  Tape!

We meant to do that

  Is your 12-floor apartment tower subsiding back into the swamp at an alarming rate?  Has a huge section of the parking lot sunk by at least 8 inches in the past few months?  No need to get overly worried - just paint the affected sections and pretend like it's a new speed bump!  Problem solved, boom.
  I'm the Grinch.

Good job, asshole

  See what he did?  He used the wheelchair ramp as his own little car ramp.  Classy.

Big potato

  The good news:  I bought a huge potato.  Look at it.  The bad news: this is the most exciting thing that's happened to me in weeks.  But look at it!  Am I losing it?  Am I joking?  Who knows.

SignsSeoul

Does what it says on the label

Infamous Polly's soju kettle

ARE YOU READY TO DRINK?

BEER BARKET

Mad for Garlic

Sweet statue

PINK BUS

FEEL THE AIR

GAMEVIL

  Oh, I randomly bumped into Jizzake, a guy I know from way back in 514.  Very random - he lives in Uijeonbu ('The Bu'), I live in Geoje, and we run into each other in a random bar in one of the biggest cities in the world.  Crazy.  Then we drunkskyped Resolute in Oz.  Win!

Three idiots

Just got back from a Seoul weekend hanging with Piss-bottle Man and Jeppuh.  Good to see the lads, eat shitty food and act like goofs.  There was much re-hashing of incidents from Jeju waygook folklore, and bitchy gossip.  Holy shit it's late.  Goodnight.  Oh, smoking has been banned in Seoul bars - I never thought I'd see the day.  Good.

Pig-headed

  Magpies will eat anything.
  In other news, an unknown person (or persons) in my neighbourhood is dumping severed pig heads in the river.  Happy holidays!

Alone in the woods

Lunch spot

  Packing.  Geoje Island - I'd love to say I'll miss you.  I'd love to.