Groupies, Art, and a Novel?

Friday was the day from hell, as my ipod broke and I really wasn't feeling well. Teaching when you are not feeling well really, really sucks since you still have to be positive and out going. I went out to dinner with a friend and then called it a night. It was good to get out and be a little social but I wasn't up to going out.

Saturday was mainly devoted to Battle of the Bands. It was a blast getting ready with these three girls. One girl, S., made signs, one for each of us supporting our friends' band. And then came the tank tops decorated with Sharpies and glitter--the works. The band name: Polar Bears in Disguise. I actually managed a pretty good polar bear with sun glasses and of course, holding a beer. Apparently those art classes in France paid off. I ended up leaving early from Battle of the Bands because I committed the ultimate drinking sin: drinking on an empty stomach. I'm usually religious about eating big dinners before I go out, even if I'm not drinking much, because let's face it, I'm a fairly small person. In addition to that I usually have to eat a snack in the middle of the evening's festivities because my metabolism is so fast that if I don't keep noshing on something it will be messy as well. What happened? I had a late lunch and I just wasn't hungry. I wasn't sick or anything but I wasn't feeling stellar either so I left around midnight and went home to sleep it off. Oh well, we all make mistakes sometimes.

Sunday I Finally, FINALLY went to see the art exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art that I've been meaning to go to for a month. It's imported from the Centre Pompidou in Paris and is a collection of French (or mainly French and French influenced) artists from the 1900s depictions of heavenly themes. Arcadia (the exhibits actual name) was fantastic. It was well hung, lit and organized. What did bother me was the fact that all of the signs, all of the catalogues were only available in Korean! There is a large expatriate community in Seoul and there were definitely other expats at the show. I would have bought a catalogue but it's no fun having one you can't read! I was surprised they didn't at least import a small box of English or French catalogues from the Centre Pomidou if they weren't going to print their own. I did buy a nice collection of post cards, none of which I'm actually going to send out since I can never manage to get to the post office here when it is open. I might use them to decorate a bit in my apartment though. It's so drab but I am loath to put energy into a place that is so temporary. I did it for 6 years in dorm rooms but my dorm rooms were all bigger than this! Next year I'm going to get a 2 bedroom place with a friend and it will be lovely and I'll make the effort to decorate. For now, I don't spend enough time in my apartment to make it truly worthwhile.

After the art show, I was sitting with my friend, E. (who accompanied me to the show), talking about writing. E. wants to start working on a novel, or possibly a collection of shorter stories about his experiences in Korea. I love writing. I'm always writing, in one way or another. It got my wheels turning and suddenly, I blurted out: 'Me too. I want to write a novel. Why not? We should make a pact to write 10 pages everyday or something.' Even if it's terrible, if I never show it to anyone, it would be a fun project. I'm not sure what I want to write about. I've had a lot of interesting experiences but I think a more fictionalized autobiographical work would be more fun and considerably easier to write. On the way home, it's all I could think about, turning ideas over in my head and considering. This brings me to yet another reason why I hate my apartment: I have no table, no desk, nothing. Where am I supposed to do my writing?