Tonight the current edition of the BUD challenge league concluded. Coming into the final day I was leading with 52 wins and Jin was second with 50 wins. I was done with my matches and Jin had 3 legs left to play against Rick. Rick took two, which gave me the Championship 52-51! As a result, I was both jazzed and 100,000 Won richer. Imagine my surprise at that outcome:

Woo Hoo!

Jin I am sure was disappointed. He played some damn good darts and I expect he is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Duke was in the money with a third place finish.

With the regular season concluded, it was time for tournament. I drew Duke in the first round. He pretty much owned me in cricket, but I eeked out a victory in the ’01 leg. Duke then won the diddle and to my surprise called ’01 again. I threw a couple of high tons and a 97 late that left me with a 50 out. I sent my first dart at the double bull and hit the damn thing for a stunning victory.

I then beat Rick and Jin to finish at the top of the winners bracket and had about a 2 hour wait until the losers bracket concluded. Sitting at the bar I felt myself fading fast (with the late night associated with Duke’s party I hadn’t slept much). It was either coffee or a nap, and I opted for the later finding a relatively quiet corner in the bar to rest my weary head. I dozed for an hour and woke up feeling better, but still a little out of sorts.

Jin wound up coming back to face me from the losers bracket. He needed to win two matches to take the tourney victory. In the first leg of the first match, I squeaked out a cricket win. Jin then annialated me in ’01, hitting two ton-forty’s and a couple of more tons. I still had 300 points on the board when he hit his double out. He won the diddle and called ’01 again. Although it was much closer, he still pulled out the win.

So, it was the second match for all the marbles. I won the diddle and called cricket and pretty much dominated for the win. In the second leg, it was back to ’01 and we played it neck and neck all the way to the end. Jin had a 32 out and I was sitting on 24. Jin took three throws at the double 16 and missed. My second dart hit the mark and I was the tourney Champ. Made myself another cool 100,000W to boot.

I really was more pleased than I appear here. Just dog ass tired. Jin gave me everything I could handle and I was just drained.

Jin with his second place bounty.

Rick got 3rd place in the tourney. He had already gone home, so Grant stepped in and did his best Rick impression. Actually, not bad….

Here’s some of the motely crew who are regulars in the Dolce Vita dart circuit. Left to right: Colin, Lonnie, Mario, Duke, Jin, Me, Jim, Grant and Cuatro. We may not look like much, but we have a lot of fun and it is a great group of guys.

So, not a bad finish to the weekend, eh?

So last night was the going away party for Duke at Dolce Vita. In his honor we renamed the bar Dukey Vita.

Bottom line, we ate some good food, drank copious amounts of booze, and threw a bunch of darts. Rather than bore you with my written account of the evening, I will bore you with my photographic record of the events as they transpired. Here we go:

Duke and his sweetheart Ji Young.

Duke is the one who brought me into the dart league and really helped me improve my game. Sometimes now (a lot more than he likes) I kick his ass. And even when I don’t he has to work hard to win. Thanks for the lessons Duke.

And thanks for introducing me to your girlfriend. She shore is purty….

And if you don’t like me hugging on your girl, whatcha gonna do about it?

Lonnie made that tasty con queso dip. Jim made the spinach dip that everyone loved. I brought some deli cuts (ham/turkey/roast beef) and baked a carrot cake.

Duke, Lonnie and Jim chowing down

Duke and my coworker Corine.

I’m pretty sure Ji Young won’t like this photo, but it is part of a series. She goes from this…

to this…

to this. She recovered rather quickly though and was soon back in full party mode….

Lonnie was having a good time…

Duke and Grant. Not sure why Grant was practicing his Nazi salute…

one of the “hash house harriers” joined the party…

Corine was a good sport to hang in there with a bunch of drunk dart players…

Ji Young giving Duke some flowers. He is not going to San Francisco however. He’s on his way to Fort Drum, New York. Heard they had 110 inches of snow up there this week…

No Duke, we said stick the flowers up your….

Friday night Ji Young broght her brother, aunt and sister-in-law to Dolce. They didn’t speak much English, but the sister-in-law told Ji Young I looked like KFC. That’s like ten times that has happened to me now. I am either going to have to start taking it as a compliment or lose some weight. Kamsamnida!

Corine gets the obligatory hug from Duke….

….and seems joyous about having survived to live another day.

Song Hee and Hae Lee took good care of us all night. Thanks!

Coincidentally, Gina from Bless U was celebrating her birthday. She brought her entourage by and we merged parties for awhile.

I got Gina a hug (and a box of chocolates) for her birthday.

I think she liked my hug better….

Gina also brought along her bar’s dart league team…the Blessed Bulls. We have a friendly rivalry and will be playing each other in two weeks…

What the hell?

We had a little impromptu dart tourney…

And me and Scott took Craig and Colin down for first place. Craig is proudly displaying his second place winnings…

My friend Cindy who is going through some sad times right now.

Geez Duke, get a room!

Well, that was pretty much the going away gig. Everyone had a great time I think. Duke’s farewell tour continues today with the BUD Challenge League Tourney. I will also learn today whether I am the league champion. I am two legs ahead of Jin who has to play three legs against Rick this afternoon. He sweeps, he wins. Two legs forces a playoff. We shall see.

Tomorrow will be Duke’s last SIDL game with Take it Easy. Thursday is Duke’s last night in Korea and we are all heading out to the new Hooters for his farewell dinner. I really hate to see him go, but such is life in Korea.

I left Dolce around 1 and stopped into Debut, my favorite after hours bar for a beer and some Korean eye candy…

That’s Ji Young who had DJ duty last night. Ain’t she sweet?

I was sitting at the bar next to a New Zealander pacifist (is that redundant?). He wanted to talk politics so I indulged him for awhile. His world view is of course that America is evil and the root cause of all that is wrong. He actually advocated that Bush be assasinated. Seemed a little inconsistent with his professed belief in non-violence. I tried to talk some sense into him to no avail. The conversation ended when I called him a pussy who was unwilling to fight to defend the freedoms he enjoys in a western society. I told him not to worry because it was likely the USA that he despises would be there to bail out New Zealand when the Islamofascists come calling to impose Sharia law. What a fuckin’ weasel he was.

Oh well. So ended another night in Itaewon.

At least last night was. We beat our arch rivals Eberhardt from Scrooge Pub 15-4. Some damn fine dart throwing for Mario and Cuatro. Duke beat the guy he wanted in a grudge match and I threw a six mark and two five marks in cricket. Not too shabby.

Afterwards we went back to Dolce and did lots of shots.

And so ended another day in the life.

….the more they remain the same.

I guess the big news around here is that my good friend Duke is moving back to the States in a couple of weeks. Sounds like a good opportunity for him, but he will really be missed. One of the things I have had a hard time adjusting too here is the transient nature of friendships. I’ve been here two years and seen so many people I have come to know, respect, and enjoy pack up and move on. Yeah, it’s the nature of the expat lifestyle, but I don’t have to like it.

With Duke’s departure we have a big hole to fill on the dart team. Luckily, we picked up Mario. Good guy who hangs out at Dolce a lot anyway so he will fit right in. Duke was numero uno last year, so those are big shoes to fill, but if we all step up our games a bit we should remain competitive.

I’ve also assumed the duties as team captain. Mostly by default, but I don’t have a problem with it. Its mostly just setting the lineup and making sure everyone gets a chance to contribute, while still putting the best possible team on the line each week. I have two goals when it comes to darts: winning and having fun. So hopefully I can maintain the right balance and everyone will be on board.

We lost our first match 9-10 but came back this week and won 16-3. Real tough game coming up against Eberhardt from Scrooge Pub. There’s some bad blood from a couple of years ago (really just one guy on their team) so we are motivated. It will be interesting.

Not much else to say right now. Well, there’s more but I’m not ready to say it.

Just been getting settled back into the Korea lifestyle. I was over my jetlag by Wednesday (helped by sleeping from 7pm to 4:30am Tuesday night). Thursday was the first night of the Bless U/Dolce (BUD) Challenge League. I threw pretty good darts taking 9 of 12 legs. Also met another blogger, the guy who writes Thoughts of a Goat. Nice guy who throws darts but is unable to participate in the BUD league because of a busy schedule. He’ll be playing for Bless U during the regular dart league starting the 22nd.

Friday night I had some people from work over for burritos and movies. Then I went out on the town and wound up making it a late night. Did my regular bar circuit, then dropped into the Grand Ol’ Opry around 2am. It was pretty much dead by then but I chatted with a couple of Koreans at the bar for awhile and that turned out to be enjoyable. One of them had spent time in Northern Virginia and South Carolina so we were able to share something in common.

Last night I met up with some of the guys from the fantasy football league. Scott, the guy who beat me in the championship game (by three frickin’ points) was there and in lieu of a trophy he got his hamburger paid for. Andy and the Dram man of Marmot’s Hole fame were there as well and they are always interesting to talk with. Brian isn’t a blogger but he’s a nice guy from Alabama and we talked a little SEC football, along with politics and religion. He also joined me for some brews at Dolce, Bless U, and finally Metro bar which is where I left him at midnight. At my age I just can’t pull off two late nights in a row. It was a great time though.

Today I’ve just been lazing about the house (I’m still in my robe as I write this). Later I’ll be heading out for the Sunday edition of the BUD Challenge League. And tomorrow is a holiday so hopefully I can avoid the Sunday night blues.

And that’s about it from here. Yeah, I know I need to get off my ass and do something with myself that doesn’t involve bars. I’m working on it. It would be good to have something to write here that wasn’t just boring drivel, wouldn’t it?

We shall see.

Flying out this afternoon for a couple of weeks with the family in Virginia and South Carolina.

In other news, we suffered our first darts defeat of the year and were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs. Alas.

Actually, that’s a picture from the CPAC Christmas party (although it probably does accurately capture my mood after the darts loss). Technically, this is after the party, I really did have a good time. The party was held at 3 Alley Pub, and there was good food, karaoke, and a Yankee gift exchange. I got drawn to make the first gift selection and snagged a nice set of wine and champagne glasses. Which my co-worker Corine promptly took from me when her number was drawn. I wound up with the Hickory Farms pack of sausages which was a little ironic as that is what I had brought to the gift exchange as well.

Seeing as how I was expected to take my turn at karaoke I needed to obtain the courage that is found after several mugs of beer. Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes enjoy the norebang experience after a night of drinking with friends, but singing in front of 50 people I work with is a different story. Unfortunately, my “big voice” was not designed to carry a tune or sing on key (whatever that means), but what the hell. I did a Beatles tune “All my loving” and did backup vocals for Leora on “End of the world”. No one said I did great but they didn’t laugh either, so I call that a success.

I really haven’t had much Christmas spirit so far this year but I hope to capture some when I get back home. Here’s wishing each of you of the happiest of holidays.