summer 2009

 I have loved music since I was young. My favorite radio programs were "All that music" and "Ghost station". I heard many music on those radio programs. So, when I was high school student, I really wanted to go live clubs located in the area of Hongik University. The area of Hongik University was famous for Korean indie music and indie culture. After I went up to Seoul to enter the university, I often watched mini concerts in live clubs. Listening live music afforded me great pleasure. I loved sound of guitar, so I learned how to play the guitar in school band when I was a freshman.(I couldn't play it well and quitted school club)

I went Placebo's concert and Jisan Valley Rock Festival on summer vacation, 2009. They were so fantastic. Placebo are an alternative rock band formed in U.K.. They have melancholic tone, less traditional sound. The vocalist of Placebo; Molko has very unique voice. It was my first time to see foreigner band. Eventhough price of ticket was very expensive, it was worth a lot. Every people jumped, grooved, shouted to the music for the entire 3hours. Next day, I felt aches in my muscle.



 Jisan Valley Roak Festival was also good. I saw many Korean bands, Jimmy Eat World, Fall Out Boy, Starsailor and Weezer with my friend all day long. We could choose band performs which we want to see, because there were three stages. It was also interesting to watch bizarrely dressed people. There were so many various young people, one common thing was they just loved rock music. We jumped and danced together. We felt the joy and passion. We felt free. We were up all night. So, on the way back home, we were dead tired.

 I want to go Japan, U.K. or U.S.A to go world's rock festival; Woodstock Festival, Glastonbury Festival, Fuji Rock Festival, Summer Sonic Festival and etc. I recommend you to go Jisan Valley Rock Festival in Icheon or Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon. Someday, I want to buy an accoustic guitar and try to play guitar again. I want to play guitar well.

Prejudices against foreigners in Korea

Our country have emphasized 'One ethnic family'. There are very few foreigner in Korea. We can't see foreigner easily without center of Seoul, like Myeongdong, Itaewon, and so on. If we see foreigners on uncrowded road or in the subway, our eyes would be focused on them, just because they are foreigner and have different appearance. Most Korean are unfamiliar with foreigner, because we can't meet foreigner frequently. Nowdays, the world become global, but racism still exists in Korea. Korean people have many prejudices against foreigners.
When my friend went Itaewon alone, a black man talk to her at the bus stop. He was large, and he expressed an interest in my friend. He asked her phone number repeatedly. She told me that she felt scared even he was kind. After that day, I met my friend and told about that day together. We thought he had bad purpose.(things like picking up women) If he had been white person and had good appearance, Was that thought changed? We think so.
After Erika told us about story of her student, I feel sorry to that black man. It was the stupid stereotype. I regret that day.
We know raism is very bad thing, but it is difficult to put our thoughts into action. So, I want to meet many foreigners to broaden my horizons. Our mind could be changed by our experiences.

The issue of inter-Korean relations

 Many different interests are entangled in the issue of inter-Korean relations. Reunification is very important issue. Most Korean people want a united Korea. Even If South Korea have to spend heavily to reunite the two sides. In addition, although the economy will decrease further, that would be a passing phase. By unification of North and South Korea's national prestige will soar, and it will solve many problems.

 Human rights are in danger in North Korea. They are under the authoritarian government. Many people in North Korea are starving, because North Korea is very underdeveloped country, and they spend most of their money for military. South Korea was in aid of North Korea, for this money, North Korea could conduct and experiment with a nuclear weapon to have power. North Korea has been considered one of the biggest threat to world peace. Familied were divided by the Korean War, the issue of separated families is also serious.

 South and North Korea are technically still at war. So, the war can always threaten our life. We can't shake off our anxiety about the war. Man in twenties must go to army, because we are in a state of armistce. But if unified, we don't have to spend much money for military.

 We should be the case that Germany was reunified by the West absorbing the East. We should achieve peaceful reunification, than we can increase our national power.
 Korean reunification is a task that must be fulfilled in our generation.

Evolution of the Internet here and now

<SNS>

 Social Networking Service (SNS) is service that people could make the relationship with random people on Internet. SNS has been developed with the Internet. The Speed of supplying SNS increased dramatically in 2000s. People can connect to SNS easily by using Smart Phone. Today, most of young people are using SNS such as Facebook and Twitter. SNS is changing our lives as many people prefer socializing online. We can get in touch with our buddies, anywhere and at anytime.

 Why do people want to connect to the twenty-four-hour network by using computers and mobile phones, instead of meeting people face to face ? Humans are social animals that require close relationships with other people. Human can recognize their own identity through relationships. Human being by its very nature is lonely. People need more strong network to relieve their loneliness. Also, We can be powerful when we have good human networks in competitive world. For modern people, Human Networks are abilities to succeed. So, people need network technology to manage their personal relations more effectively.

 Do SNS make people feel less isolated ,indeed? People who don't have many offline friends can't have many online friends, too. There is gap in online relationship. On the contrary, People can feel lonely even if they have good online relationship. How many true friends do you have among hundreds and thousands of follower in Twitter? Also, Even if We know live news of online friends all over the world, We can ignore regards of family who are really close to you while we just focus on online friends.

When Old people scold young people for slacking off, they could say "We never have behaved like you guys !". This thought makes people feel gereration gap. I think people should not say this comment unconditionally, because times have changed and many conditions have changed, too. We should consider kinds of jobs, incomes, the increase in number of university students, the age of retirement, the youth unemployment, economic structures, the globalization, the values of the ideal life, gender roles, the change of the average length of life, the birh rate and so on. The change of work ethic is so nature phenomenon, because everything have changed. It is hard to judge whether this change would be positive or negative.


I think getting jobs have become more difficult than before. There are so many graduates of university, and they want tp have good jobs as they studied a lot. Competitions for getting good jobs have become keen. Young people have to improve their skills and capacities to survive. They need good school credits, awards, English ability, internships, volunteer activities, and so on. People need to study and take tests(even tests are not related to their job) to be promoted or avoid layoff. We need more efforts to survive in professional life than before.


I think the increase of changing a job is related to the change of age of retirement. The average length of life have become longer than before, and companies lay off their employees earlier than before. People have to change their jobs to live after the retirement. It is nolonger necessary to keep one's job in original company which is first job to him. It become more important to improve one's career and seek happiness.
I think the younger generation are not lazy than past generations. The values of happiness have changed and people want to improve their life strongly, so, loyalty in their first job has decreased.

I want to invent the machine which erase bitter memories of the past partially. I was inspired by the movie "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind".

To summarize this movie, the hero of this movie couldn't forget his ex-girl friend and felt so depressed. He didn't want to live without her, but he couldn't do anything to restore their relation. They already broke up. Therefore, he decided to erase his memoriy about her to get back to his daily life. In the movie, there was a mysterious hospital specializing in the nervous system and the brain. He brought all goods which are related to her to the doctor. The machine in the hospital helped him to forget his ex-girl friend.

There are many people who feel sad, because of the same reason as the hero of "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind". Also, people break their hearts from many kinds of bitter memories. Memories make people to have severe depression and become suicidal. Memories about crimes, natural disasters, nuclear attack, wars, and death could be examples of bitter memories. This machine could be used as the last resort of anti-depressants, however, I wonder that vicious people could use it for political, commetcial, and criminal purposes. It must be used on a physician's prescription, and used for purpose of treatment for severe depressions.