Addictions, Apartments and A-drunk-old-man (one word)

Josh:

I would like to take a moment to comment on a recent addiction that Audrey now has. It started off innocently enough but now it has consumed her completely. Yes, I'm talking about Taiko Drum Master.











It's actually a really fun game. You play, well, Taiko drums. It has great songs such as Mario Brothers, JPop and anime TV show themes. I mention it because we always play it whenever we are in an arcade. Waiting for a movie to start? Taiko Drum Master. I wanted to do another example but really that's all I have (for now). I think we need to get an arcade machine in our house because it is so awesome. Eventually it gets really hot and we have to leave but if we had it in an air conditioned home, the fun would never end.

Another really weird game in Korea is this rhythm game where you tap the screen to the beat while the screen flashes weird anime scenes. It seems really weird to explain but that is the entire game.











Some of these kids are so into it that I have seen a guy standing behind another person watching him play and tapping an invisible keyboard in front of him in an attempt to follow the screen. I wish I had taken a picture because it was fantastic.

Why do I mention these games? I really have no idea other than the fact that there are interesting rhythm games in Korea. And it also leads me perfectly into one more side note about arcades:

When you play an arcade game in Korea (especially if you are a foreigner) people gather behind you and watch you play. I experienced this for the first time when Mike and I decided to try House of the Dead 4. We decided that we wanted to beat it and kept pumping 500 won pieces into it whenever we would die. Eventually people started standing behind us and were watching. I wasn't quite sure if they wanted to play so when I died I made a gesture towards them to ask if they wanted to play. They shook their heads "no". At this point I was really confused because I had no idea what they were doing. I would lean over to Mike and ask, "Are they watching us or is this some sort of huge line? I feel like we are hogging the machine because we keep putting money in when we die," to which he replied, "I have no idea." So we stood there with a crowd of maybe 5-10 people standing behind us watching us kill zombies to save the world. We got to the final boss and Mike and I ran out of coins. We shook our heads and let our characters die for a change and stepped away from the machine. I expected someone from the crowd to swoop in a pick up the gun immediately. To my utter amazement all of them dispersed and parted ways. I was really confused. So they weren't waiting for a chance to play but just wanted to watch us play House of the Dead? To me, that's really strange. When I'm in an arcade I always want to play games. I guess I'm just a control freak (oh play on words, you amuse me so). It doesn't really strike me as a "fun time" to watch other people get killed by zombies every other minute. I've also seen this phenomenon with people playing Tekken (of course). People gather around each side and are utterly absorbed by what each player is doing. I'm sure some go so far as to cheer and "awww" when someone loses but I haven't seen this yet. I asked Charles (a Korean friend of mine) what the deal was and he said, "Oh yes. They just want to watch. That's all." It still baffles me. This goes so far as to even have TV channels devoted to airing Starcraft matches (I kid you not). Imagine, "Hey, honey! The Starcraft match is on! Our team is playing again! Grab the popcorn and get over here!" to which she would reply, "Oh good! I hope our team wins this time. GO ON! PWN (sic) THEM!"
[My blog has officially lost credit as I have used the internet slang "pwn". Sigh. I get some credit back by using a literary term to show I did it on purpose. Right? Right?]

In all reality, it's good to encourage people watching other people play games. As I mentioned earlier, I am a control freak and it's sometimes boring for me to watch other people play video games. I was always designated as "the video game player" in my family so I never really had to watch other people play (i.e. "share"). I don't mean to make it sound like I never let other people play, because I do; as I mature (i.e. "level up my maturity" [yes, I know that was bad but I couldn't help it]) I find myself enjoying watching other people play. The problem is that I wasn't raised watching other people play as others have. I think the ability to watch other people play and still be entertained is a fantastic life skill because you will never always be in control and it is sometimes fun to watch others having fun (it sounds really weird when I type that out though. Watching others have fun is fun. Strange?). Maybe this is why I hate watching sports so much. Yeah, I like that excuse.

How can I possibly transition from addiction and games to another topic? Easy. I will talk about something I mentioned before. The crane games!











I haven't really talked about them much but I will once again. That awesome picture is me with my first two prizes: a radio and a lighter. Both are utterly useless to me but the fact that I won them makes them that much cooler. Since then I have sunk an obscene amount of money into these stupid things (as predicted). I have won other prizes such as stuffed bears and hedgehogs and even a lame necklace but nothing really amazing. A while ago I decided to cut myself off from crane machines completely unless something particularly awesome was a prize (such as many of the prizes I mentioned a long time ago in the blog). No more stuffed animals or lame radios for me. I just wanted everyone to know that I powered through my addiction and I no longer play the crane games (frequently that is).

Many of you might be wondering, "Where does Joshua work, what does it look like, where does he live, etc." Well ladies and gentlemen, you wish will finally be answered. After months of neglect and not posting what my houses or my offices look like I will finally post everything.

Let me start off with our initial house in Dogok. You might have to scroll way back for the description (or you can just watch the video and see it yourself, if you want):

Note: Before I post anything, please know that I am a terrible cameraman. One might even call me atrocious. I tend to point the camera at the ground half of the time, I move the camera too fast, the camera is frequently jostled and sometimes I don't speak loudly enough or I speak too loudly. Don't mind that. Pretend that it doesn't exist and everything will be great.

Without further ado, here is our Dogok apartment:




Wow, a long time later one finally managed to upload. This is why I never uploaded videos before. Well, maybe I'll upload videos from the house and hopefully it'll be faster. Maybe. Unfortunately, I have to cut the video uploads off here. Sorry. I tried doing two but the second one literally took over two hours and didn't even upload so I canceled it. Maybe someday everyone can experience videos. Someday.

I'll end this post with another story.

A month or so ago our group was riding on a train over to Seoul (once again, I don't remember what is was for exactly). The train was sold out because it was the weekend so we had to wait in the dining car. I don't think I've said how awesome the dining cars in Korea are (if I have, then here's a reminder). They all have mini-Norebangs (karaoke rooms that people use often even on a train), computers with pay by the hour internet, arcade machines (usually with Tekken) and a counter where they sell food and drinks. This is somewhat important to know because they sell alcohol on the train (same as most places in Korea). We saw a strange looking man (looked a little like a derelict) come in and buy a tall boy of Cass (a Korean beer) and a box of crackers. There were also two young girls standing against the wall across from the food counter. They were obviously "rebels" because they were showing a little bit of cleavage (scandalous - note that in Korea it is perfectly acceptable to wear skirts that barely cover your butt but if you show your neckline or a tiny bit of breast you are "slutty". I happen to disagree and think that showing off your underwear, or lack thereof, is a lot worse than a collarbone here and there but what do I know?). The man looks over at them, heads over and starts talking to them. They obviously are not interested in talking to him because they give him a disgusted look. This older man doesn't quite take the hint and continues to talk to them while inching closer and closer to them (personal space is another rant but I've digressed too much as it is). They seem to answer his questions with as little words as possible and frequently exchange looks of loathing to each other. They sit down in an attempt to make him go away but the man doesn't miss a beat and sits down right next to them. He opens up his box of crackers and gives them one of the packets. You see, gentlemen, nothing says debonair charm, class and outright sexiness like a packet of crackers. The girls try to say "no" but he insists and shoves the "gift" into their hands. They eventually give up fighting and set it down next to them. I wonder if he had a conversation with his friend later saying,

"You know what gets the ladies?"
"No, man. What?"
"Freaking crackers."
"Nice! Pound it!"

I don't know why the old man talks like a teenager from California but that's how the scenario ran through my head. Anyway, after ten minutes of awkward conversation (and us pointing at them to our friends and snickering) one of the friends pulls out her phone and makes a phone call. She then gets up and moves away from her friend, leaving her by herself to fend off the advances of a drunk old man (who is frequently sipping his tall boy of beer). The friend who was abandoned had a look of sheer terror on her face as she saw her friend get up and leave her to the wolves. I thought, "Well she'll probably call her friend's cell or make up some excuse to get her our of there." Twenty minutes later, the friend is still on the phone and has moved far away from her friend and the drunk old man. The guy is still hitting on the poor girl stuck there. She then just lays her head against the wall and stares off into nothing, apparently giving up on life and only answering in monosyllabic words (as much as she can). I then turn to her friend on the phone and she looks over at her abandoned friend, laughs and says on the phone (as far as I can tell):

"I just left Suzy all alone with this drunk guy and now she is stuck talking to him. Awesome, right? I'm such a good person." - To be said as she pops her gum and twirls her hair on her finger

This continued for the rest of the train ride which, by the way, is over an hour. Finally, we pull into Seoul and we head out and I see the two girls start to get ready to get off. I don't know how the conversation with the old man ended but I can imagine it to be something like this:

"Hey, this is my stop. I have to go. Nice talking to you."
"Oh, okay. Well can I get your number and maybe I'll call you sometime, chica?"
"Oh, I don't know. I normally don't give my number out."
"Come on, baby. It'll be great."

At that point she probably would have jumped out the window to get off the train (I would have) so I'm sure she said "no" politely and ran off. The last I saw of these two girls was on the escalator going up into Seoul station with the girl on the phone laughing at the other girl and the other girl pretending to laugh along with her (or so it seems). I'm sure their friendship will be one that lasts forever.