so hanging out at scott's is fun. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT! yeah. smelly mollusk that he is, scott is 24 today. we went out last night to a bar that played a ton of late 80s/ early 90s music, so it pretty much turned into scott's friends having our own little sing-along. good times. last night before the celebrations i bought a $5 shirt that says "grows power/ aventurea lover of adventure/ direction the car drove/ direction of toward the coast." it's very cute, and it amuses me. i kindof identify with it. what with the adventures of the summer and all..

i was browsing my usual blogs and found that one had posted her horoscope, which she said seemed very applicable to her life. so i checked out the site and this is what it said for me:

Pisces
Some observers have expressed derisive opinions about Guy Boos, a Wisconsin man who hurled his washing machine down a flight of stairs and pumped it full of bullets with his .25-caliber gun. I, on the other hand, admire those who take out their frustration and rage on inanimate objects rather than on animals or other human beings. That's why I advise you to consider Boos' methodology if you find yourself on the verge of boiling over, Pisces. Don't repress your negative feelings, but find a way to express them that doesn't cost you anything more than a little money.

just kindof thought that was interesting, given that i am going back to miami on tuesday. a place that has not exactly been frustration-free for me. though it's possible that frustrations might not come from miami. i have a tendency to frustrate myself, so maybe i should be watchful of that. grant me the patience.. to calm the heck down and stop thinking so much. and also the focus to start really working on the things i want and need to focus on.

fred and i went exploring yesterday. we found some things on the island fred has never seen before. most of these pictures were taken from up in the mountains.. i'm not going to spoil them with further explanation. enjoy :D

ok. so i'm at fred's island. after many many hours of travelling by train, bus and ferry.. i've arrived. and it is *gorgeous*.. i don't think any pictures or words i ever post here will be able to adequately depict the amazingness of this place. it's been raining, so i don't actually have any pics yet. but when i do, i will post them. until then, here are some pictures of my last bits of time in korea. in chronological order...

i went to visit the fortress in my city. it's basically a super long crazy cool wall that used to go around the city. it looks like something out of a video game. err.. things out of vid games were based on this? anyhow. i liked this. it was very.. mario brothers.


we had some fun with sparklers at the mud festival. my cam has a fireworks setting on it, which keeps the shutter open long enough to do some fun things. it's no comparison to picasso's bull, but it's kinda fun :D


we built a kickbutt sand castle on sunday. here is muddy me..


and here the triumphant builders pose by our creation. note the white flag of surrender, as the tide is coming in quite quickly!


i took a million pictures of my kids on the last days of school. this is my youngest student - 4 years old. she still walks like a toddler. can't tell from this picture, but she's a total hellion.


i had each of my classes write messages on the board so i could take a picture and have their notes.. they were very cute.



goodbye korea!


hello japan! this is from my first views of japan on the ferry coming in..


and this is matsue castle.. last wooden castle in japan. located in the port city near fred's island. one of the first places we went since i've been here. gorgeous, ne?


and with that, i am finished for today. it has taken me far too long to post all of this! more pictures will, of course, be up as i get them or decide to sit down to post. be well, and remember, "a towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have" ..