Happy New Year and welcome to the 2007 edition of the worst blog in the world (although it still gets a million more hits than Bender's). Since cold sucks and we feared getting trampled, we stayed away from the hot spots on Sunday night. I think they ring a giant bell or something. Not really that cool. We celebrated the New Year with about 50 white people at this bar in Sinchon. The bar didn't even have a sign outside, but it was swarming with whities. A couple of Russian girls were going nuts on the dance and sadly, I got too many views of their underwear. They gave out a free shot to everyone at midnight, but somehow, mainly because I'm an idiot, I forgot to go up to the bar to get it. Since it was a big night, we then went to Itaewon, where you just go when you want to feel filthy. And we did.

We met up with my coworker David and a few of his buddies. One of those buddies almost managed to get into a brawl with a Korean bar owner. The owner was pulling down the metal cage as he was closing up the place and this guy runs up to it and jumps into the cage. The owner went nuts. It took him a good five minutes to realize he was outnumbered. I'm not counting myself. I ran away. Once we made it a bar, it was actually pretty chill there. Some guy from Idaho came up to me and said a Korean girl wanted to talk to me. So I did that. As is my life though, her English skills were quite sad. This girl's sister, who is married to said Idaho guy, was acting as a translator for a few minutes before I realized how sad the situation had become. So I gave up on that one. Got home at 6am and then woke up at 2pm Monday to catch the Times Square festivities on the tube. Pretty solid night, although New Years Eve Eve was probably more entertaining.

We went to Dragon Bar mainly so Bender could kick my ass in darts 10 more times, but then some sort of Korean tornado of drunkeness smashed into us. This guy and who we think was his girlfriend started talking to us. When Mike introduced himself, the guy went nuts. "Mike!! My English name is Mike, too!! Same name! Same name!" Then in some kind of weird Korean Groundhog Day, that same exchange happened about a hundred more times. The guy kept forgetting our names so whenever Mike re-introduced himself, he went crazy. He also gave us a bunch of shots of Jack from the bottle he bought, which I think pissed off the bartenders cause we got drunk and only bought one beer. The girlfriend, who the guy kept pointing to and saying "Very very very very very very no English," apparently only knew two words in English. Me Pretty? Over and over again. And we told her how amazing she looked for a good hour.

And in easily the gayest thing that's happened here, the guy started to feed me tomatoes and cantaloupe. First he told me he wasn't gay and then he cupped my chin with one hand and fed me. I let him do it because it's Korea and that's normal, maybe. And I'm gay. He then tried to feed Bender, who thank God did not witness him feeding me, and Bender refused to play along. Damn hetero. After this, I don't think the guy liked Bender anymore, although I think they might play basketball together sometime. I'm supposed to meet the girl at Dragon on Wednesday night for a language exchange. I'll probably go just to make sure she isn't there. And there's just no way she's showing up. It was an absolutely hilarious night. At one point, the guy went across the bar for a minute to talk to KC, a white guy we met last month who had just walked in, and suddenly he turns and shouts towards us "Mike Mike! Same name!" Before he left, he hugged each of us about 40 times, wished us a Happy New Year and he may have licked my ear. He is my favorite Korean of all time.

Made it to Club Night on Friday but no before a rocking party at work! One truly annoying thing about Koreans is that they have no conception of giving people notice of anything. As I'm putting on my jacket to leave work Friday, one of the Korean teachers goes "hey wait, we're having a party." It's almost as if they assume you already know everything. Party was actually decent though. A ton of food, even more alcohol. Only awkward thing was I was sitting next to John Mark Karr II and we didn't say a word to each other the entire time. I could tell some of the Korean teachers were a bit confused. The owners made everyone at the table stand up and say something, I really have no idea what it was about. It could have been about New Year's or chemistry, no clue. John Mark got all douchy and said something about cherishing every moment. Everyone was creeped out. I got up and said, "Annyeong Haseyo, Gamsahamnida." or "Hello, Thank you." Everyone loved that. I'm awesome.

I was thinking before just how much happier I am at the start of this year than the last. And really, it's a huge difference. Last year, I was rarely leaving my apartment, I was coming home from work early everyday and blazing. Now sure there are definitely times here when I crave that kind of lifestyle again, but those are very fleeting moments. Halfway through the year, I spent two days in the ER after forgetting my entire life, but really, I wasn't forgetting much because I wasn't doing anything with my life. That's changed now. And it's a great feeling.

Photos- Bender and one of his many Korean girlfriends, and a couple more Shanghai photos, the bottom one is from inside the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, basically just a glorified way of getting across the river.