2016-04 summary

Across April 2016 recordings, Daniel documents daily life and short excursions around a South Korea trip, covering walks near train stations and parks, day trips to sites including the Han River, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Lake Park, a mountain trail, Incheon's Chinatown, and Hongdae, along with meals, supermarket shopping, camera and technology troubles (including a corrupted SD card and low-light camera testing), karaoke and comic-drawing side activities, and preparations for an upcoming trip to Japan.

Food experiences recur throughout the period, including a disappointing rice burger and banana milkshake, Korean fried chicken, Vietnamese pho, tonkatsu meals, grilled octopus, and an unsatisfying pizza-and-pasta meal in Incheon, alongside recurring supermarket shopping trips.

Air pollution and weather are frequent concerns, with heavy smog affecting visibility and prompting mask use on some days, contrasted with clearer, windy, sunny days with cherry blossoms on others.

Recurring technical and camera-related issues include a corrupted SD card causing lost footage, comparisons between different cameras (WX500, A5100, phone, super zoom camera), and reflections on sensor size, depth of field, and low-light performance.

A planned meetup with a person named Louis, arranged via Twitter for 5 PM on a Sunday, is referenced as missed or delayed, with uncertainty about whether Louis was leaving for Tokyo around that time.

Numerous minor uncertainties recur throughout the period, including unresolved questions about noise, food ingredients, technical causes (SD card corruption, camera sensor claims), historical facts (MacArthur's dismissal), and everyday observations lacking clear explanation.

Public transit experiences, including trains, buses, subway travel, and encounters with vendors, loud passengers, and rail police.

Food and dining experiences, including meals, snacks, grocery shopping, and reactions to specific dishes.

Sightseeing and outdoor excursions to parks, landmarks, and cultural sites, including Han River, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Lake Park, a mountain trail, and Incheon's Chinatown.

Camera equipment, technical difficulties, and comparisons between recording devices.

Air pollution, weather conditions, and related health concerns in urban Korea.

Daniel's mood, motivation, and creative or gaming activities such as Hearthstone, comic drawing, and video recording routines.

Preparations for an upcoming trip to Japan, including packing, laundry, and travel documentation.

A planned weekend mountain hike is postponed by a week due to forecast rain, prompting alternative weekend plans.eq

Daniel visits Dongdaemun Design Plaza, exploring exhibits and a rooftop under intermittent rain, then walks a sparse shopping district and a smelly, fly-infested river, eats banchan, raw meat and rubbery grilled octopus for lunch, and returns home in heavy rain, encountering a loud phone call on the train and an improper U-turn by a car.

Daniel loses recorded skateboarding and sunset footage after an SD card inserted into a phone shows a corruption warning requiring formatting, prompting a return trip to the park under cloudy skies to reshoot the footage.

Daniel travels through severe urban air pollution by bus and mask to Lake Park, visits a toilet-history museum, eats at a Vietnamese pho restaurant, takes the subway to Madu Station, and spends a karaoke session dealing with excessive volume and inappropriate video content before switching rooms.

Daniel struggles to slice hard bread in the morning, then takes a rainy evening walk through a deserted park with taped-off paths and floodlit football players, reflecting on a missed meetup with Louis (scheduled via Twitter for 5pm Sunday), camera performance, and Game of Thrones.

After overnight rain clears pollution, Daniel experiences a windy, sunny day with cherry blossoms, witnesses an unlicensed train vendor fleeing suspected rail police, visits Hongdae finding it dirty and overwhelming, and eats a tonkatsu lunch while avoiding a whole prawn.

Daniel walks to a mountain on a hot, humid day, reviews a 6.72km trail loop, briefly ascends before turning back due to darkness, and stops at a bakery for cake and free biscuits on the way home.

Daniel takes a two-hour train trip to Incheon's Chinatown while playing Soulcalibur, is asked for a photo by Korean-speaking girls who then note his foreign status, eats an unsatisfying meal at a floor-seating pizza restaurant due to long restaurant queues, and returns home exhausted by the crowds.

Daniel deals with a drained battery charger, then walks outside observing graffiti and trains from a bridge, shops at a Korean supermarket amid loud promotional shouting, and cooks a bacon, sweet potato and spinach quiche while considering future trips to a mountain or a spaceship-like structure.

Daniel walks outside wearing new shoelaces after a day spent playing Hearthstone and starting a comic page, observes an old brick train station beside a modern one, discusses discomfort filming in crowded or shared spaces, shops for scarce hot dog buns and oranges, and becomes disoriented navigating identical residential buildings.

Daniel observes rabbits and an elderly three-legged cat, notes a neighboring boarded-up house with burned vegetation, and prepares for a trip to Japan by doing laundry, packing, changing bedding, and checking a British Airways app boarding pass, while also discussing camera sensor depth-of-field limitations.

Unresolved questions about train noise impact, an unidentified yellow machine, contents of a hole, and whether forecast rain would occur.

Uncertainty about packaging text obscured by stickers, whether haze was cloud or pollution, overnight camping practices, and a lack of memory regarding a previous visit to a location.

Uncertainty about photography permissions at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the purpose of a 3D-printed item, and the identity of a phone caller overheard on a train.

Uncertainty regarding SD card corruption and recovered park activity footage, plus lingering doubt about repeat card corruption and how another vlogger films while boarding.

Uncertainty about the cause of a low mood, whether a video would be completed, forgotten sandwich ingredients, and how Korean fried chicken is prepared.

Uncertainty about a company's national origin, effectiveness of free food samples, presence of pollution at night, and whether remaining phone battery would suffice for filming.

Uncertainty about mask effectiveness, reasons for a taped-off footpath, cereal packaging stickers, future camera use, and claims equating polluted air inhalation to cigarette smoking.

Uncertainty about reasons for a late-night walk, a taped-off path, Louis's travel plans, a lens artifact, a release date, reflexology claims, and a bus driver's activity in bushes.

Uncertainty about whether train personnel were police, what a vendor was selling, and whether a displayed food item was artificial.

Uncertainty about earlier rainfall and the identity of a trailside structure as a bonfire or tent.

Uncertainty about the historical reason General MacArthur was removed from his post.

Uncertainty about weather-dependent travel plans, whether a destination was truly a museum, indecision between destinations, and how to respond to sampling staff.

Uncertainty identifying car brands and the exact wording of a supermarket announcement.

Uncertainty about table tennis table usage, the original function of an old train station, and difficulty identifying a residence among similar buildings.

Uncertainty about hypothetical rabbit consumption, a stray cat's fate, camera sensor claims, and digital boarding pass reliability.