The night before Payday, and all through the house...

I don't know if there is a consistently more shitty day than the one that comes up right before payday.  I know, I know, the day the rent is due sucks, too, so does car payment day and student loan day and electric bill day.  I get it.  The "Day before Payday" day is just a little closer to home for me, right now. 

As of tomorrow, I will have been in Pusan, South Korea for two solid months.  My first week or so was considered training, though, and you don't get paid for training here.  I only get paid once a month, so this will actually be my first full paycheck.  In a word, I'm broke.  People are always talking about all of these things you can do without cash, but I've found that in most cases in life, people are stupid.  I'm sure there's some huge treasure trove of "free" activities to do, but I've never seen it.  The truth is:  I love to spend money.  I like to buy shit that I'll only use once; I like to blow money on a night out on the town... or a week out on the town if it's a particularly good week.  I'm a deacon in the Church of the Holy Consumer.  Sex, drugs and rock n roll.  I love it all.  Money defines me and my life.  Ya, I know, "That's sad", right?.... not to me.  Sad to me is pinching every penny and saving for that "rainy day".  I save for a "make it rain" day.... and I blow the fund every week.  I'm just not good at doing things that do not cost money.  It's the server/ bartender mentality that I've had since I was sixteen.  Unfortunately, the lack of money is currently "defining me and my life".  The good news is that Korea is relatively cheap, my rent is paid for by my employer and my paychecks will be more than enough to get me through a month, leaving me with a little extra for trips and mini-vaca's.  I just have to get through the next day or so and everything will be fine. 

The one thing that makes up for this weekend of no cash is the fact that I have several of those mini-vaca's planned for this month.  The first big trip is next weekend.  It's the first weekend in the Boryeong Mud Festival.  Basically, the Mud Festival is a huge gathering south of Seoul.  ESL teachers from all over the country have turned it into a kind of foreigner's spring break.  The mud itself is used for a bunch of beauty products here in Korea and it's trucked in from the surrounding Boryeong mudflats for the party.  It's one of those "can't miss" events for many expats here and I've been told that I have to go at least once.  I have no idea if I'll decide to stay here for another year, so better to go now.  (See quote at the bottom of the blog).  I'm meeting up with a few others from a small city north of Pusan and we're taking a party bus there after work Friday night... heading back on Sunday.  Gonna be a long weekend.

The next big plan for July is a river trekking and windsurfing trip on July 30th.  It's an overnight trip that's split into two major sections:  river trekking and cliff diving on day 1, windsurfing and party at the beach on day two.  The guide keeps the info on this trip close to his breast, but the first day description sounds very similar to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park in Missouri, one of my all time favorite vacations as a kid.  I hope it's everything I'm expecting it to be.  I don't know anyone else that's going, but there are about 30 people signed up for the trip... max of 33.  It should be a pretty good time and I'll write about it a little more in depth when I get back. 

Maybe I'll go blow some money on a waterproof camera.... and it so it begins again.