Thank you Kim Yeona --You made my last day golden.

So I'm sitting at the airport at one the free wireless Internet lounges. Now I can finally reflect on some of the things I've been wanting to write about for the past couple of days while I was busy packing up.

On my last day of work I got to come in late on the 1:30 bus. That morning I had a chi massage from my masseuse Andi, and afterwards we walked downtown to grab some kimbap (Korean version of fishless sushi). I realized half way through my kimbap roll that Kim Yeona was about to do her final skating routine. The only thing I knew about the Olympics (besides the fact that I was missing them) was that Kim Yeona was representing Korea at the games. At first I only knew her as "that ice skater who advertises maxi pads" but in the past few months she's been endorsing everything from air conditioners to nike to diamond earrings. I heard there was a lot of pressure on her to win gold because she'd already endorsed so many products (yet another example of how Korea does everything backwards from everyone else: doesn't an Olympian usually endorse stuff after they win a medal?).
Anyways, as I picked up another peice of salad kimbap with my metal chopsticks, Kim Yeona stepped onto the ice. Everyone in "Kimbap Chongu" (the restaurant) fell silent. The waitresses pulled thier chairs up to the TV. (By the way, almost every Korean restaurant has a TV in it). People starting coming in off the streets to watch Kim Yeona's routine. It was perfect. I held my breath the whole time. At the end, it looked like she was going to burst into tears. "She knows she's got it" Andi said. A smile crept up on my lips and my eyes got all teary. I was all choked up. It was 1:27...I couldn't wait to hear her score results. I bolted to the bus station and just stepped onto the bus as the engine roared to life. "Kim Yeona #1 issoyo?" I asked the old women and farmers ("is Kim Yeona #1?") It was one of those awkward moments where no one acknowledged me and you could hear crickets chirping. "fine then" I said to myself "I'm more proud of Korea than you!" Later, when the bus driver turned up the radio I head "Figure skating...Geum....Kim Yeona"...and I was pretty sure "Geum" meant Gold. As I got off the bus I asked the driver "Ajashi, Kim Yeona medal issoyo?" (Sir, did Kim Yeona get a medal?") He held up one finger, as if to say "#1!" "Yay! Hassssah!" I jumped off the bus and walked to school with a bounce in my step. I burst into the classroom yelling "Kim Yeona got GOLD!" and everyone jumped with me. I arrived just in time to see Yeona bow down as the medal was placed around her neck. It was a great way to end my last day of work. Thank you Kim Yeona for making my last day memorable. It was funny because my administrator kept talking about some other figure skater that I should be proud of and I was like "What are you talking about?" It turns out that the Canadian figure skater (whom I'd never heard of!) got bronze. "Pffft, I don't care about her! GO KIM YEONA!" "You are more Korean than Koreans!" she said. I guess so.
Tonight is the night before Korean Independence Day...I'm all nostalgic and I haven't even left yet. My co-teacher and her family as well as my administrator came to see me off at the bus station, it was so cute...I fell asleep and when I woke up we were in Gapyong, although for one surreal moment I thought I was already in Aurora, Ontario. I guess all little towns are essentially the same.

When I got to the airport I discovered I couldn't get a tax refund on my Nikon D90 and that I did indeed have to drop an extra $130 to get my over sized Pusan International Film Festival poster home...I figured that would be the case, I just couldn't bear to part with it...The colours remind me of a Buddhist painting we have at home, an inheritance that my sister and I would have fought over to inherit if I didn't have this...so it was worth it


I have the 2009 poster rolled up in my suitcase, but I don't like the artwork as much:

When I got to the airport I thought I could get an emergency exit seat, since I arrived 5 hours before my flight...haha..."155 passengers have already checked in" said the guy at the ticket counter. I'm never coming this early again! Oh well. The Korean Airport rocks, they have these "Korean Traditional Cultural Experience Centers" where you can do traditional Korean arts and crafts...why buy souvenirs when you can make them?! So awesome. I made a mother of pearl broach and an ink print. I also dressed up in Hanbok, tried on an $1100 Gucci watch, and was blinded by the white bright lights of the Duty Free shops. The only thing I bought was a water. I think I might go grab dinner now cause it's 7:30 and my flight is at 8:55.

This is Fran signing out.

See you on the other side!

Worst nightmare come true:

I think I've become lactose intolerant. Last Saturday I had some pizza; a few days later I had a little cheese on a baked potato; and this morning I had some ice cream...On every occasion I had stomach pain and uncontrollable...well, you can guess. Let's just say the last time I ran for the bathroom I slipped and fell on my face in front of the office workers. It was pretty funny.

My body hasn't been the same for a week...I think I need to go back to my fresh fruit and veggie eating habits...I just don't want to drop $100 on groceries when I'm leaving Korea in 4 days! (Did I mention a single tomato costs $1.50?)

Note to self: I got a migraine today. It started building around 11am...It might be from a bad sleep (work up at 4am and 5:30am) or from eating ice cream for breakfast (forced upon me by other staff)...And then I ate lots of garlic laced food for lunch, which made it worse...Plus the office was hot...

Cheese, Garlic & Salt

Sounds good, right? I'm finding those things give me migraines.

Art I want to Emulate

I've been surfing around Deviant Art and Etsy recently. I forgot how much awesome art is out there. Ahhhh...So refreshing. The internet really does empower artists (by making it possible to market themselves to the masses) and it gives me a lot of ideas. Thank you internet.

I found this photographer on Deviant Art.

And this artist does beautiful illustrations.

This is a pencil sketch that has been digitally coloured. I am TOTALLY going to copy this.

I've deciced that I have a thing for hats and umbrellas...I'm reminded of another print I have by Canadian artsit Claude Théberge (obviosly the style is completely different: Theberge was influenced by cubism, while the artwork above is reminicent of art nouveau) ...(This is not quite the same as the print I have...but similar)

I also found a bunch of headbands that would totally suit the newly developing idea I have for a 1920s style wedding...I know, weird right? Why am I thinking about that?! Probably because it's a really good excuse for a fancy theme party.

Carrying on with the retro look...When I was at Bonnaroo in 2007, I saw this awesome act called The Yard Dogs Road Show. Why am I not suprised to learn that these guys originated in San Francisco? By the way, did I mention I'm taking Burlesque lessons when I get to SF?! Should be fun.

(PS this is Dita Von Teese, infamous burlesque artist and Marilyn Manson's ex-wife.)

GRAMOPHONEDzIE

I just discovered my new favourite video director...and song of the day: Check out Chris Sweeny and his video "Why Don't You" by GRAMOPHONEDzIE.



Sweeny also directed my favourite song of the morning, entitled Mowgli's Road by Marina and the Diamonds. (I can't quite decide if it's a jab at Single Ladies or not...but anyways it looks like Single Ladies meets Dr.Seuss and it's so catchy that I was dancing in the hallways at school and made everyone late for lunch).

Note to self

You hate couscous.

edit: solution is making veggie "sloppy joes", aka: couscous patty fried and smothered in avocados, tomatoes & Dijon mustard.

Yumminess

Hmmm...Maybe I should just become a food photographer? Not that this is a good picture...and for some reason it won't upload horizontally...but anyways I really enjoy taking photos of food...and then I like to eat the food. I wonder if one can become a "Vegetarian Food Photographer/Critic"? That would be the most AWESOME job in the world!

So this post was supposed to be about what I'm doing for Lunar New Year...The answer is NOTHING...I threw out my back yesterday while doing some over ambitious yoga (look I can do the proper lotus position now!)...and now I'm practivally bed ridden. Fun stuff. So I just sit here and eat. Today I had delicious apple cinnamon oatmeal (no sugar...not instant) and now I'm going to snack on dates stuffed with almonds. Or maybe I should eat the green split pea/spinach/tomato/green pepper soup I made....

Body as Landscape

The Lake at Sunset

Why are there chinese characters floating in the sky? I'll tell you:

The first image is actually a modified photograph of my back and shoulder blade.
Haha, I fooled you. This is part of an ongoing artistic study I've been doing in which the body is treated as a form of landscape. I've been interested in this idea for over a decade. In 1998 I did a wonderful drawing of a woman emerging from a tree. Later that year I discovered a similar kind of series by a native artist named Norval Morisseau. He did wonderful paintings of lake horizons that were actually images of women's bodies (perhaps symbolizing Mother Earth?). Unfrontunately, I couldn't find photos of his body as landscape series online (I saw them at a gallery on Manitoulin Island).

In 2002 my final art project entitled "The Fall of Man, The Rise of Woman" used a similar concept. that's when I first got into photoshop. Later I did a painting of my sister's legs, in which the space inbetween formed another woman's body:
As you can see, I am very interested in nature and the use of negative space, as these concepts both visually represent some of my spiritual beliefs...But that's another blog in itself.

You've heard of a Spoonerism, but what's a "Franism"?

First of all, for those of you who don't know what a Spoonerism is, click here.

Now, what is a Franism? I've been researching extensively on wikipedia to try and find an answer. The best I can come up with is that it is a mild form of Dysnomia, which is described as a "tip of the tongue" feeling, where the brain cannot recall the desired word or name...People who have dysnomia may replace a word with a synonym in an attempt to express their thoughts without using the word they are having difficulty retrieving".

The difference between Dysnomia and a Franism is that a person who uses "Franisms" won't even use a synonym to express their thoughts, but a completely unrelated word that sounds similar to the word they want to produce. For example:

My earliest memory of producing a Franism was at Appleby College, when I was trying to describe an immense building, and I called it "Absoloutely immaculate".

In university, my most humiliating and hilarious Franism was when I described an elegant dress as eloquent.

Just recently, a Korean friend asked me what surmise meant, and I described it as "evil plotting" (I'm not sure what I was thinking of...maybe scheme/intrigue). "Wrong." she said. "It says it means to guess".

AND UGH...Just recently, IN A QUERY TO A PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE I used the word clambering instead of clamouring. The former means to climb with difficulty. I'm hoping the magazine interprets my mistake as poetic.

last week, a girl and I were discussing French Connection U.K. She said "F-C-U-K" and I laughed and said "Don't you mean...Wait...F-C-U-K?" "Yeah, that's what I said". Not this this is a wrong definition, but my brain was so set on her spelling it wrong that I actually heard it wrong and over analyzed it to the point of "fcuking" myself over.

I recently used the word assumably, and my friend called me out on it and said "assumably?! Don't you mean presumably?" "Do I? Hmm...that's one word I've been questioning myself on lately..." this is the one circumstance in which I was actually right. HA. Take that.

But at the moment I am doing a piece of creative writing in which I was wrong again. I wrote "Things would have preceded as normal" when I meant to say "things would have proceeded as normal".

I'm going to start a book to record my misuse of words so I can start to correct myself.

Baby Names

Today I found a document on my external hard drive that lists all the baby names I've liked for the past 5 years or so. I wonder if my name choices will mature as I get older? I obvisouly have a strong preference for names that have the "a" sound in them...

Boys:
Adriel, Aiden, Atreyu, Noah, Lucas, Joshua, Jayden, Jullian, Jude, Dyan, Elliot, Cyan, Kiran, Kayden, Adoni...

Girls:
Asherah, Amalie, Gaia, Auria, Sanorah, Gweneviere, Arawn, Arwen, Estelle, Adriel, Ariel, Ophelia, Eve, Leora, Luca, Bronwyn, Cerridwen, Kali, Lalita, Lasya,Tara, Ariella, India...

Fran at the Cosmic Cafe

Here's the original painting. Sam is the guy working behind the bar. He takes good care of his regulars. And photoshop helped me "fill in the blank". This is a better respresentation of where I go to make all my wishes come true. (I don't drink the wine, it's just there for decoration.)

This is a painting by the artist that inspired me to try painting in this simplified style...Sadly I don't know the artist's name, but I'm sure he's current.

Fran's made up crazy vegan Banana Strawberry Bread

Ingredients:
4 bananas, pureed
1 apple purreed
6 strawberries, pureed
6 strawberries, sliced
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
2 tablespoons baking powder
lots of cinnamon (NOT CLOVES as I accidentally used...ARGH!)
2 tablespoons oil

Instructions:
mix everything except the sliced strawberries, which should be placed on top of the dough once it's in a bread pan. Bake for about an hour and a half at 180C (it's vegan, so there's a lot of fruit juice that needs to evaporate). Stick a chopstick or toothpick down the centre, and when it comes out clean, it's done.

Note: This is more of a bread than a cake. Just so you know. It's good for breakfast, not dessert.

Fran's attempt at Palak Masoor Dal / Red Lentil and Spinach Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups red lentils
as much spinach as you want (remember it shrinks when heated...it might look like a lot, but it's not!)
a handful of parsley or fresh corriander if you have it
3 tomatoes
2 onions
2 tablespoons garlic (I like garlic)
taplespoon curry powder
more ground spices of your choice, for flavour (cumin, salt, tumeric etc etc)
2 fresh green chillies, chopped
splash of fresh lemon

Instructions:
Rinse the lentils, then cover them with water and boil.
Fry the onions until translucent, add the rest of the ingredients and fry until soft.
Slightly drain the lentils, then mix everything together and blend it with a food processor.
Sprinkle with a little lemon juice and fresh parsley.
Eat and savour. YUM!