| My friendship is worth 3 grand |
[19 Oct 2008|01:05am] |
this is a true, pseudo-abridged story of how i xxxxx 3 thousand dollars.
a week ago a friend 'W' called me up with a proposition that i could not refuse. she knew a pro gambler who only played with other ppl's money and the 'investors' would get 50% of what they put in and the gambler would take the rest. W said this kid has 90% winning percentage and that she made over 50 grand through him. she told me that as a favor to me she would allow me to bet on him and make some quick cash.
2 weeks ago, W called me late at night, crying and bawling. she said her boyfriend was being held by a group of gangsters and cops were also after him. the boyfriend's been running illegal gambling operation and owed the gangsters around 100 grand. according to W, he makes around that much in a month running the joint and ultimately he got involved in the game he was running and needed shittons of the gangsters' money to bail himself out. W called me and asked to borrow a grand because the gangsters are demanding 10 grand in exchange of somewhat unharmed and alive version of her boyfriend. being a weekend, sunday night to be exact, she maxed out her account when she withdrew 6 grand. she had much more in her account but couldn't withdraw anymore until morning, by then she wasn't sure what kind of state her boyfriend would be in. she borrowed 3 more from another friend and needed just one more.
2.5 weeks ago i was in busan for Pusan International Film Festival(phonetically the city is "busan" but long time ago it was called "pusan", it was around this time the film festival was created, the name has since officially changed to "busan" but the festival stuck with the name since it already established itself as that) with my dear girlfriend. we spent an amazing 3 days in the city and watched around 8 films of all kinds, managing to see about 3 really good films. on sunday morning we saw a remarkable french-produced film called JOHNNY MAD DOG, about child soldiers in liberia(at least i think that's the country), and how they are used and abused by the rebels for their purpose. i missed this film at this year's cannes and was ecstatic when i found out that it was coming to busan. after the screening we followed it up with another film. once the second screening was over the two of us hopped on a bullet train back to seoul. we were both noticeably fatigued from the trip. just before we got on the train we realized that my gf had lost her make-up satchel in a subway locker, worth around 300 bucks. we were in low spirit, having lost something valuable after a spectacular weekend. but she tried to make it seem like it was nothing, not wanting to dent on a otherwise awesome trip. not the most positive note to end a trip.
2 months ago W said she found a temporary job but wouldn't tell me what that job was. but that it pays enough to buy a relatively decent-priced car in a month. she told me a few clues about the job and asked me to guess what the job was. she wasn't entire proud of the job and if i wasn't able to guess, she could just go on never telling me. we played these guessing games and i almost always figured out the riddle without any major clues. she said the job required(or helped to have) a foreign passport, working hour usually starts after 6pm, busy on the weekend and holidays. the job was said to be quite illegal. based on these clues i figured out that she worked for illegal casinos that were popping up everywhere recently. in korea gambling and casino access are illegal to korean citizens but not foreigners or any korean-born foreigners but due to rising popularity of texas hold'em, regular koreans are really getting into the game via these illegal joints. after my striking guess, she fessed up that she works the floor for any foreigners and help them out while they play. she knows basics of the game but not enough to win any casual matches. i told her to rethink about her choices and get out while she can. but temptation of 30 grand a month got the best of her. she said she would do this for 2-3 months and get out before the cops bust the joint.
2 weeks ago, sunday night. i got back from busan and when i got home she called me even more frantically, saying the gangsters are calling again and again to threaten her. i tossed the bags and took a cab and went to where she was. i tried to take a grand out of my bank but my CMA account wouldn't allow me to take the money out after 10pm. in desperation, i called gf and got her to lend me a grand for W. 30 minutes later i got to where the exchange was suppose to take place and handed W the money. when i got there she wasn't sure whether to go on with the exchange or not. she wasn't sure whether she loved him or not. she knew she would never see that 10 grand again as long as her boyfriend is in the game. she assured me though, i would get the money back the next day when she can access her account once more. she was sobbing and asked me how she got into this mess. my head was filled with 'i told you so's but the phrase never escaped my lips.
1.8 weeks ago, W wired me the grand back to me and i, in turn, wired the money back to gf. that was that. for the time being she bailed her boyfriend but she didn't want to see him again, unless he decided to change his life around, which was highly unlikely but she believed in that 1% chance he would.
a week ago, after talking with W, i went to the bank to withdraw 3 grand i had in my account. i have about 8 grand in various funds and X0 housing deposit but 3 grand was all i had in cash, it was my lifeline for the next 2 months, at least until money from my freelance gigs reached me. i was with my gf when W called to tell me about the wiz kid. she too was intrigued and being a financial consultant for ING, she was always interested in sure-fire investments. she decided to chip in 1 G and see what happens. 1 grand was almost nothing to her, it didn't matter if she lost that money or not, but 50% winning was mighty tempting. W, as a thank-you, said she would guarantee whatever money i put down, so that even if the kid loses for some reason, she would pay back the exact amount i put down with her own money. that's how confident she was. the game was happening that night and she needed to go down there with the money so that the kid could play with it and get the return investment the following morning when the game was over. she said she's done this about 10 times and bet 10 grand every time, hence 50 G's. she told me to come down to her new apartment and give her the money. i took a cab to her place a few minutes away. it was hotel-like condo in which a maid came by to clean, dust and wash dishes for her everyday. the entire single-bedroom place was furnished with a giant LCD tv, surround sound system, queen-size bed and bidet(a must!). i was impressed. but not by the price tag. to live there for a year, it cost around 40 grand. she said she paid for the entire year in advance with the money she earned from the kid. wow. just wow. i was hooked.
6 days ago, W called me in the afternoon to update me on the game. gf and i were watching an entire season of 24 that weekend. W said the kid won the game and that she could drop the winning off or wire it back to me. between my gf and my investment, we had won 2 grand just by doing nothing but watch 15 episodes of 24 almost in a row. how sweet was that. we were both ecstatic and wondered how we would spend that extra cash we had.
things got interesting 3 days ago.
to be continued...
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| Meet my new bestest friend, Niko |
[16 Jun 2008|04:53pm] |
i was gonna do some hardcore writing and updating but... i spent the entire weekend getting lap dances/dry humps, mowing down gang bangers, moonlighting for coke dealers, jacking sports car for an exotic car trafficker, brewing warm coffee for my girlfriend and touring Liberty City in a helicopter...
Life, for the time being, is good...
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| Coffee table book? |
[11 Jun 2008|09:55am] |
What do you think of this blog turned into a coffee table book? One that focus on travel anecdotes and photos rather than just another guidebook?
i'm thinking of collaborating with a designer to put together a book of my travels, focusing on my eurotrip. if it gets published and is somewhat successful, i'll do one on USA and Korea. and who knows what afterwards.
what do you think?
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| Twitter |
[03 Jun 2008|11:25am] |
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Anyone on it? Add me if you do, 'taejo'. i think i might update through that. see you!
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| currently in Cannes |
[20 May 2008|12:52pm] |
funny how i updated last year with a cannes entry and now i'm in cannes again for the festival!
this should be my last participation with my company as i plan to leave to do freelance work and my own projects within next several months.
my team's watching alot of competition films unlike other markets(we hardly get to enjoy films as we are treating clients or drinking with other teams/companies). so far we watched 4 competition films including BLINDNESS by Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles(CITY OF GOD, CONSTANT GARDENER) a french film with catherine Deneuve called A CHRISTMAS TALE, Ari Folman's animated documentary about his own experience during 1982 Lebannon war called WALTZ WITH BASHIR and lastly LINHA DE PASSE by another brazilian director Walter Salles(MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, CENTRAL STATION, DARK WATER). these were all red carpet galas so we all had to dress up(including bow tie for me) in order to attend these screenings, many of which had the cast and directors in attendance. if you were to ask me my fave so far is LINHA DE PASSE, which is about the lives of 4 brothers and their single mother in present Brazil setting. he co-directed this feature with a long time collaborator Daniella Thomas. i really loved the fact that all 4 brothers had their own goals/dillemas/problems/dreams and their own way of solving or reaching those. it made me think about my own projects and its characters' clear and concise motivations. i'll write further about the flicks later on.
there are so many films that i want to watch here but work is the priority and i'm afraid i may not be able to check out more. but i'm dying to catch CHE by Soderbergh(the 4-hour biopic about Che Guevara) and SYNEDOCHE NEW YORK by Charlie Kauffman before i takes off.
last night my team attended party for a film that we're co-producing called RED CLIFF(also known as BATTLE OF THE RED CLIFF), which is based on the most famous Chinese masterpiece THREE KINGDOMS(aka ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS). THREE KINGDOMS is chinese equivalent of LORD OF THE RINGS in terms sheer magnitude and its psyche into the culture it produced and simply the popularity of the book over the years since its first publication several hundred years ago. RED CLIFF takes one important battle that takes place in the book and turned it into 2 2-hour feature films directed by John Woo and starring a body of all-star chinese-speaking cast including Tony Leung, Chang Chan, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and some other actors i don't know...
anyway, our company invested in this project some time ago and were invited to the party to celebrate the film in cannes. i got to meet John Woo(take a picture together too) and see the cast + Jackie Chan up close. the photos in due time...
i'm coming back home in about 4 days and all i can think about is giving the missus a big sloppy kiss!
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| mobile post test |
[19 Mar 2008|06:19pm] |
This post was sent from ipod touch during a dull moment in hong kong while on business trip. Hopefully this post will look ok even though it was sent from a mobile device. How cool is it to sent make posts anywhere wirelessly! I'm quite excited.
Also, I'm considering coming back to LJ community. I've been too busy to make my own site updated and I feel terrible about it and I miss LJ frankly. Hope I can still get back in touch with all of you.
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| end of a season |
[03 Mar 2007|12:57am] |
so here i am, possibly my last livejournal entry. it's been fun but it's time that i move on. i met some amazing people through LJ and accumulated countless pieces of information over the years.
the new blog is called seasonal nomad, which pseudo-adequately describes me and my partner/student and i have been working for an entire month to migrate the entire LJ content to wordpress as well as add some new stuff as well, mainly the archive for easy access to the back entries.
> SEASONAL NOMAD >RSS feed
i hope that you embrace my new blog just as you have with this one and spread the love. i need a lot of support to continue traveling and without your participation, this will be just another blog in the sea of mediocre blogs. i will continue to update and add new features in the future but only if people enjoy it. if few people see and read about my experience abroad, it's pointless to invest so much time in it.
thank you for everything, see you after the jump :)
tae
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| blog update |
[14 Feb 2007|11:21pm] |
sigh.....
there were 2 major features that i wanted to implement in the new blog that would revolutionize the way ppl comment on blogs but today my partner and i decided to abandon them for the time being. we realized that in order to put together the system for those 2 to work, it would take him a good 3 months to research, code and program. instead, we'll do a straight port of this journal plus better archiving, tags, highlights and slideshows. i wanted ppl to beta test the aforementioned features but looks like it won't happen for another several months. i'll ask ppl to test the site for me next weekend. i've been working on the look of the new blog all day today so here's a little preview. the design is near final but all text+sidebar are mockup. the logo was cropped to hide the url.
( -------- NOMAD: PREVIEW )
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| update |
[10 Feb 2007|07:10pm] |
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from here on, there won't be anymore new entries on this journal. all the data has been backed up to my new blog and only that site will be updated. i haven't figured out the syndication so that may or may not come. i'll post the new blog's url when it launches but i need some ppl to beta test the site as well as some of its features. if you're interested in helping me test the new site, please leave a comment with your email address. i want to begin the testing soon. thanks guys!
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| update |
[03 Feb 2007|09:47pm] |
i'm currently working on my new 'professional' blog, which will launch end of this month(this is the reason why it's taking me so long to update new entries). i will migrate all livejournal content to the new site and once that's completed i won't be updating on this blog anymore. sad to end this lj but it's about time i move to a more dedicated blog. the design of the new blog will be similar to this one, maintaining the 'desktop' look but with added customized features.
so much's been going on lately, i can't wait to show/tell you all about KOREA 2.0~
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