A coconut

Found a few washed up on Rosy Finch beach.  The (imported) palms on Jeju don't produce coconuts, so I got to wondering from whence they came.  Also found a Chinese water bottle.  Amazing and riveting, yup.  I've always loved combing the beach for interesting jetsam.  I never change.  In fact, I still dress the same way I did when I was 10.  Good or bad?  I'm guessing bad.

The Avett Brothers - At the Beach

Cheer, up, it's the Avett Brothers...whistling no less!

Hang out with your wang out.

"I know that you're smiling, baby,
I don't even need to see your face
Sunset at the shoreline, we are laughing, breaking up,
Just like the waves
Are you feeling, feeling, feeling like I'm, feeling
Like I'm floating, floating, up above that big blue ocean
Sand beneath our feet, big blue sky above our heads,
No need to keep stressing from our everyday life on our minds
We have got to leave all that behind

Well, I have got a sister,
And she has got a baby with brand new eyes
And her daddy is an engineer,
And they just took her to the sea for the first time
Now they're under, under, underneath a big umbrella
Summer, summer, summer time to help us forget, nine to fives
We have got to leave all that behind

I have worries to give to the sea
We can walk dear the pier is farther than it seems

Midnight at the shoreline, fireworks above us
A screaming bloom
They're sent by some teenager and kid whoever you are
I am thanking you
Now we're dancing, dancing, dancing with no music
What is happening, happening, happening and no feelings
Except this is right
We just had to leave all that behind"

 C'mawn!

More PSP

I mentioned the eternally-useful PSP (pierced steel plating aka Marsden Matting- used to build airfields during the 1950-1953 war) in September.  I found some more.  Here.
  I have some major bloody rants right now, but I'm gonna give my worries to the sea.  Like the lyrics of an Avett Brothers song.  Hang on...

The quest for the Rosy Finch

"I'm rare."

Sounds real manly, I'm aware.  This bird is super rare here, it's been seen less than 10 times in Korea.  On Saturday afternoon my Korean birding buddy tipped me off about the finch, and I jumped on old whitey and scooted out to meet him near Sanbangsan on the southwest coast.  The scoot out woke me up - it was super windy, and I was fighting hard not to get blown into adjacent lanes by the robust gustiness.  Once I met up with my KBB, we drove up to a remote cliff on the west coast.  We had to scale down this insane cliffside using a haggard old crumbling path.  Once at the bottom, we stared up at the cliff for ages, hoping to get finch-lucky.  What didn't help was the fact that the tide was all the way in, which meant frigid ankle-deep seawater every few seconds.  Also unhelpful, vis-a-vis trying to find the birds were the gale force winds.  Woke my ass up even more though.  After ages, 2 of the elusive pinky finches came down for a drink.  I about lost my mind.  I crept up and got a few decent shots.  High fives!  That's Korean bird #231 for me by the way.  Happy happy day.  I have a headache.

The mouse head

A complete mystery.

I recently came across a severed mouse head on a window sill.  I wondered how it got there.

The White River Bluegrass Band - live on Hungarian TV - 1979

AKA 'White Liver Brewglass Band'.  That's my father on banjo, and my uncle on mandolin.  I'll never be as good as any of them - they all could play those damn instruments like they done sold their souls!  I have memories of traveling around the country in a van with the band in summer as a tot, while the pa played festivals.  I'd roll with other hillbilly kids catching crawdads and eels in the crick.  I had plaid shirts, and cowboy boots, I think.  I would let out loud rebel yells when TWRBB played.  Yeeeeehaw!  

Check out:
2:27 -Worried Man Blues
5:29 - creative 'tuning'
11:37 - slapdown!
12:13 - It'll always be Springtime in Heaven

Plinka-plunk!

In other news

Cobain is alive.  He left Phnom Penh a day before an obscene number of people died in a stampede at some water festival.  Talked to him this morning - he sounded a bit shaky and was saying that he left PP on a whim, but would have been at the festival had he stayed.  Man oh man.   Carpe diem.

Chillax

I never talk about current events/political crap as a rule - it's all a steaming heap of bollocks, but I'll chime in this time.  Today a small South Korean island got the shite shelled out of it.  I've never been to the island, but I've been to Deokjeok-do, a nearby island of similar size/population.  When I lived up in the mess that is Seoul, I went to this island 9 times.  Nine!  Why?  Well, apart from the great birding and beach campfire insanity, the island appealed to me because, like much of Jeju, it seemed to work on a different level than mainland Korea.  The people there drift slowly through a more simple existence, kinda like being in a Korea that may have existed 30-40 years ago.  I remember the 153 year-old lady who icily eyed me as I sat on her fence (birding of course) for 30 minutes, before coming over to me with a toothless smile and offering me what was probably the oldest piece of candy ever.  After talking with her about birds for a while, she allowed me to take her picture - after of course she adjusted her sweater to make sure she looked presentable.  Women.  Anyways, that's all I have to say about that.  It just sucks that a little island like this was shit-kicked in the name of whatever.

  Locally, I drove past the two small military outposts near Seogwipo's harbor, and instead of seeing the usual one (18 year-old pimply) guard leaning lazily in a guard hut, each boasted about 4-6 heavily-armed dudes.  They were standing near the gate, all twitchy and geared up.  The navy patrol boats in the harbor looked like they were getting set to put to sea.  Chillax.

4WD FREAK

You got the flavor!  My knee is a little effed up, I sure like to complain.  Had a solid weekend, but I gotta turn this train around, or I risk ending up fat(ter).  Life is still good, nothing much to complain about, but that doesn't mean I won't complain incessantly about the trivial.  Shit, that dog won't stop barking.
   If I talked about bowel movements on this blog, there would be twice as many posts.  Sometimes, the subject comes up when friends and drinks are involved, and long and breathless discussions ensue.  Poo is always gonna be funny.  Splash!

The Avett Brothers - When I Drink

When I grow up I want to be an Avett Brother.

Rock out with your cock out.

"But when I drink
I spend the next morning in a haze
But we only get so many days
Now I have one less
Just do your best"

Touch me with your arrow and it will turn into a hand.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - 2 Kindsa Love

Prepare to be slaughtered.

Boom!

The Hot 6ix

"Immediate energy boost with its own refreshing flavor"

It's basically Red Bull on crack.  I gotta stop drinking it, f'real.  My heart is a'skippin' strangely these days.  That's what you get when you consume too much of a drink made entirely of guarana and the synovial fluid of Chinese prisoners. 

Ramasutra - Marder

I used to live in the same apartment building as this guy, a super long time ago.  This song is off an album called 'The East Infection', snicker!  Trip out like it's 1999!

Goddamn!

Here is a cat

Haven't put up a picture of a filthy cat in a while, but I was reminded of cats the other day when a friend said "Meow" to me.

Birds of late

Mandarin Duck (Pimped)

Daurian Redstart

Eurasian Magpie (Smartly attired)

Red-flanked Bluetail

All dust, all the time

Dust map

Dust glove

Dust seat

So I missed some sick crazy dust on Jeju while I was up in Seoul.  It was at the highest level I've ever seen for Jeju, but was all clear in Seoul.  The shit was all over my bike, and everything else when I got back.  Feels like I'm eating it with a spoon when driving.  Fuck you, yellow dust.  I mentioned it before, but until this year, it only came by in the spring.  Double fuck you, yellow dust from China.

Seoulmayhem

Was a classic Seoul weekend.  Ate way too many kebabs.  Laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.  Headbanged to the point of whiplash, and screamed at the moon.  Played a few mandolin songs at an acoustic showdown in Itaewon, and it wasn't my best performance - as tyrann-E put it, "You played a shit set."  Honesty like this is both rare, and appreciated.  I didn't win the showdown by the way.  Didn't see too much G20 fallout, other than the normal busloads of riot cops, and blackhawk choppers flying around.  Seoul is sweet, when taken in small doses.  Now it's back to the woods for me.

Seoulsigns, some

Got back from Seoul mayhem last night.  Some signs.  Left my camera out of the picture for most of the trip.  Maybe a good thing.  All in all, a well-rounded weekend.

If this shoelace could talk...

...it would say "I'm a frayed knot!"

Jeju fighting!

Didn't go to many Jeju United games this year - two to be exact.  The opener and the closer.  Just like an Expos fan.  Screamed myself hoarse hurling confusing obscenities at the Incheon ('TERROR AND TREMBLING'?) team.  I dubbed them the 'Incheon Dirts'.  Ended up a 0-0 tie.  Last year Jeju ended in 18th, whereas this year they ended in 2nd - booyeah!  Man, I'm such a tourist sometimes.

  Thinking of pissing off to Seoul for some weekend mayhem.  Oh, it would seem the G20 is in town this weekend.  Fuck.  If that ends up interfering with my debauchery I'm gonna be pissed.  Gonna bring my mandolin, looks like there's some kind of acoustic showdown going on.  I'll yelp like a dog.  Do you wanna hear me yellllllp like a dawg?  Yelp yelp yelp yelp!  Yelp yelp yelp!