Apartment Sale #1

I'm having my first of two selling all my stuff parties on January 18th from 2:00pm to 6:00pm at my apartment. If you would like to come buy my things, contact me using the box on the left sidebar for the address if you don't already know it. I'll probably bake cookies or something ^^

Here is the requested inventory of my books, CD's, and DVD's (there are also clothes, shoes, furniture, kitchen supplies, etc.):

DVD’s – Originals

10 Things I Hate About You

A Walk to Remember

Big Fish

Body Worlds (from the anatomy exhibit)

Bulletproof Monk

Closer

Cocoon

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights

DodgeBall

Dune (Sci-Fi Channel version)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Flash Gordon

Garden State

Grind

Incubus Vol. 2

Inu Yasha (The Movie)

It

Jackie and the 36 Crazy Fists (Jackie Chan)

Kate & Leopold

Kung Fu Hustle

Man Against Crime

Mean Girls

Memoirs of a Geisha

Mona Lisa Smile

Monster-in-Law

Napoleon Dynamite

Ong Bak: Thai Warrior

Runaway Jury

Scooby-Doo

Shrek (the trilogy box set)

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Spider-Man

Stealth

Super Mario Bros.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Faculty

The Grudge

The Incredibles

The Perfect Score

The Princess Diaries

The Terminal

V for Vendetta

Without a Paddle

X-Men 1.5

X-Men 2

Zoolander

DVD’s – Burned

Collateral

Zeitgeist Remastered

CD’s – Originals

“Weird Al” Yankovic – Dare to be Stupid

“Weird Al” Yankovic – The Food Album

Acceptance – Undone

Bob Marley – 3 CD Collection

Capital City Noise 2

Derek Zott – On the Mend

Eths – Autopsie | Samantha

Franz Ferdinand

Gary Jules – trading snakeoil for wolftickets

Hot Hot Heat – Elevator

Ibex/Millionaire’s Club - Split EP

Incubus – Fungus Amongus

Incubus – Light Grenades

Incubus – Make Yourself

Incubus – S.C.I.E.N.C.E.

Jack’s Mannequin – Selections from Everything in Transit

Linkin Park – [Hybrid Theory]

Lostprophets – Start Something

Measured in Angles

Men As Trees – Warred on by cranes

No Doubt – Return of Saturn

No Doubt – Rock Steady

Pink – Missundaztood

Rock Against Floyd

Seventh Echo – another generation EP

Social Code – a year at the movies

Star Wars Return of the Jedi Soundtrack

Tha Grand Alert

The Killers – Hot Fuss

The Kinison – What are you watching

The Kinks – It’s the Kinks

The Lion King Soundtrack

The Noise of Summer

The Stills – Logic Will Break Your Heart

The Strokes – 12:51 (single)

The Sunstreak

They Might Be Giants – Flood

This Is Me Smiling

Tooth and Nail – Solid State

Warped Tour ’06 Compilation

CD’s – Burned

Too many to count~ mostly in the rock/alternative/punk genre

Cookbooks

Better Homes and Gardens Cooking for today: Vegetarian Recipes

Betty Crocker Italian Cooking

Grill by the book – Chicken and other Poultry

Let’s cook Asian

Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals

The best of Martha Stewart Living – what to have for dinner

The Busy Cook’s Cookbook

The complete book of Japanese Cooking

The Eating Well New Favorites Cookbook

Books

Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi – From Emperor to Citizen (the autobiography of the last emperor of China)

Ballard – Empire of the Sun

Collins – The Moonstone

Cummings – Korea’s Place in the Sun

Dell – Great French Short Stories

Dial – The Golden Argosy

Edgeworth – Castle Rackrent and Ennui

Forster – A Passage to India

Ghali – Beer in the Snooker Club

Goldblatt – Chairman Mao Would Not Be Amused

Hamid – The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Hamilton – Mythology

Herbert – Children of Dune

Herbert – Dune

Herbert – Dune Messiah

Herbert – Eye

Hull – The Sheik

Kim – Lost Names

Lamb – Tales from Shakespeare

Lee – Modern Korean Literature

Lee – Native Speaker

Lu Hsun – Selected Short Stories

Morris – Modern Japanese Stories

Reiland – Get Me Out of Here

Silverstein – A Light in the Attic

Silverstein – Falling Up

Silverstein – Where the Sidewalk Ends

Tulin – Aardvarks to Zebras

Velde – Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird

Vera – Without a Name and Under the Tongue

Reference and Language Books

Garnier Paris – dictionairre de Poche (pocket French/English dictionary)

Harbrace College Handbook Tenth Edition

Langenscheidt – Basic German Vocabulary

Langenscheidt – German in 30 Days

Larousse Student Dictionary (French-English, English-French)

Learn French the Fast and Fun Way

Merriam-Webster Desk Dictionary

Oxford - The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English Second Edition

Pocket Oxford Duden German Dictionary Revised Second Edition

Practical English Handbook

Practical English Workbook

Random House Pocket Thesaurus

Schaum’s French Grammar Fourth Edition

Schaum’s German Grammar Third Edition

Webster’s New World Compact Dictionary of American English

Happy New Year Everyone!

Finally, one of the most difficult years of my life is over! Here's to a new year full of adventure surprises, and new difficulties which I can turn into adventures! What's your resolution?

My resolution is to fight back next time someone tries to take advantage of me. It happens often, and the old me almost begged for it, but now I've realized that it's one of the major contributors to how much I hate my life. So, this year if someone asks for an outrageous favor they will get a "no". Along with that New Year's resolution comes my ever-present commitment to making the lives of those around me just a little bit better in any way I can; so balancing the two in a less self-destructive yet equally productive way should be an interesting feat to say the least! Basically, I love making people happy but this year I resolve to make other people happy in a way that doesn't make me unhappy anymore. This way, this year with all its changes will not have the same pain as the last 20. I am my own bodyguard now :)

TESOL Certification Course Registration

I registered for my Oxford Seminar TESOL certification course the other day. By mid-February, I'll have my English teaching certification s I can earn money in Korea while I'm in school.

I've also been looking into which Yonsei University courses can transfer to MSU and it looks like with online courses, a lot of begging and bending the rules, and Yonsei courses, I should be able to get a degree without starting over :) I'll know in Janaury.

I think I picked a date!

My 21st birthday is March 25, 2009, so I think I'll leave on the 27th so I can celebrate with family and close friends and then leave.

I have been doing research and finding out who to contact within my university and sending emails. When the new semester starts I'll talk to a lot of people who know a lot more than I do so I can figure out exactly how to make this work. I don't want to get off a plane ready to start a new life and get sent home because there's nowhere for me to go and I don't have a visa.

I going to my dad's house for Christmas. It's kind of sad to think that whatever he gives me will probably be sold or returned. I chose a bad time of year to make a decision like this. I have two crates of clothes, three bags of shoes, and two boxes of little things to sell/donate already. Most of my things I'll just leave where they are on the shelves and let people browse like in a store. I will miss my plants, my world flags, my world map, my books, my stuffed animals, and my toys from Japan and from my grandmother. I will bring one stuffed animal (I've had a stuffed bunny named Softie since I was 2 years old and I sleep with her every night), my international currency collection, maybe a few books, a music box from my grandmother, and my collection of fortune cookie fortunes (I have over 120 of them from about 6 years of collecting). Such downsizing.... It's freeing.

My friend is here to make crepes. That's enough for this entry.

Talking to my Parents and Other Things

I had a very eventful weekend. On Friday, I drove my roommate to my brother's house, which is 10 minutes away from the Detroit airport, and we stayed there for the night. Then early Saturday morning I drove her to the airport so she could go back home to Korea for winter vacation. My brother, who is an automotive engineer (among other things), said that my car isn't safe for anyone to drive because of the brakes. So, now I'm driving his old Lincoln Mark VII and my 1996 VW Jetta is at his house waiting to be repaired :(

Saturday evening I went to my mom's house and talked to her. Since we had already talked on the phone about my going to Korea, it was more like a normal visit. The only thing she had to say was that I should figure out how to deal with money in my move (her suggestion was to keep my account here and transfer money to myself once I get there) and that I should make sure I know the laws and penalties in advance. She had to study for her exam on Monday (she's in law school) so we didn't have much time together. Then I went to a friend's house to celebrate his university graduation. He, like my brother, dad, mom (until now), and my second and third boyfriends, is an engineer. I have never had any desire to be an engineer. Haha.

Sunday I went to my father's house. I had not yet talked to him and my stepmother about Korea. They seem opposed to the idea, but resigned to my decision. They tried to scare me out of going. My dad told me horror stories about how rude his Korean coworkers are and how he's been cheated and disrespected by them. He said that they made his female colleague sit in a corner in meetings even though she was the expert, and they were even reluctant to talk to him because he was American. He also said that they wasted a lot of time during business dealings eating and drinking, and then made him pay. My stepmother brought up the example of the boy who was caned for doing graffiti in another Asian country recently. Also, the story of the English teacher who was raped and killed by one of her students was thrown around, not to mention the group of English teachers who were abandoned by the company that brought them to Korea (or was it Japan?) and were stranded with no money, place to live, or plane home.

Here are my thoughts on all of the negative things about Korea and Koreans: there are good and bad people everywhere. There is crime in every big city; Seoul is just like New York or L.A.. There are always cultural misunderstandings in business dealings, and while Korean society is more chauvinistic and xenophobic than American society, it will be much more accepting of me than some other cultures, like in Saudi Arabia. Yes, I am a very young girl going to a harsh, unfamiliar place, and there will be a lot of people just waiting to take advantage of me. I know that. I will deal with it accordingly. I'm not stupid or blind. I don't trust anyone. I have people there to help me with the things I can't handle myself and people here to teach me how to handle daily life before I even get on a plane. Yes, I am really scared. No, I will not change my mind. I'm going. I'm not going to get myself killed, robbed, raped, or kidnapped. Millions of people have dropped their whole lives to go live in a completely unfamiliar place before and been successful, or at least okay. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, okay? I can take care of myself and when I can't, I have learned to ask for help.